Definitions for SAS Data Sets

A SAS^© data set is a collection of tabular data whose content is in SAS^© file format. A SAS^© data set contains the data and information about the data (metadata).
For more information on SAS^© data views, see Definitions for SAS^© Views.
When you create a SAS^© data set using the V9 engine, data values and metadata are stored in a single file. When you create a SAS^© data set using the SAS^© Scalable Performance Data Engine, data values and metadata are stored in several separate files. Metadata is also called descriptor information. For specific information on how data is stored depending on the engine, refer to the following documentation:
For the SAS^© V9 engine, see Parts of a SAS^© Data Set.
For the SPD engine, see Differences Between Default Base SAS^© Engine Data Sets and SPD Engine Data Sets in SAS^© Scalable Performance Data Engine: Reference and Comparison of Default Base SAS^© Engine and SPD Engine in SAS^© Scalable Performance Data Engine: Reference.
Data in SAS^© Cloud Analytic Services: Fundamentals.
To view descriptor information (metadata) about a SAS^© data set, you can use the CONTENTS procedure or the CONTENTS statement in the DATASETS procedure:
If a data set is sorted, additional sort information is added to the data set's metadata. For more information on sorting SAS^© data sets, see Processing BY Groups.