Beginning with the File->Import Data task, select your source text file and advance to the second page of the wizard. You can use the Import Data wizard to define the boundaries of your columns by adding boundary lines with just click-and-drag operations. Suppose that you're beginning with a spec like this: The 'Fixed columns' option on the Import Data task can make this job simple. The SAS DATA step is a perfect tool for reading these files, but defining the columns and their properties can be tedious. We think of CSV files ( files) as the main standard for data exchange among systems, but many legacy systems still produce and consume fixed-width text data formats. Watch the video to learn more, or scroll down to read my step-by-step tips. ( Update 23Mar2020) I've recorded a video that shows how to use the Import Data task as a start, and then adapt the code that it generates for reuse in other environments, with other files, and to read multiple text files in a single step. In this article, I'll review a few of the cool things that this task can do for you. I use the tool so often that I take for granted some of its neatest features, and I forget that many new users (and even veteran users) might not know about them. There's no faster method for generating SAS code that reads your data exactly the way you need it. I'm a big fan of the Import Data task in SAS Enterprise Guide, especially for its support of text-based files (CSV, tab delimited, fixed width, and more).

Excel text import wizard multiple other