A SAS© engine is an essential component that manages interaction with data, whether it's native SAS© files or data from external applications. SAS©'s multi-engine architecture applies an abstraction layer, allowing SAS© to process external data as if it were SAS© datasets or SAS© libraries. An engine is specified via a library assignment (libref) or the ENGINE system option, which can be configured through SAS© Environment Manager to set the default engine.
Expert Advice
If you do not specify an engine in the LIBNAME statement (e.g., libname mylib 'C:\data';), SAS automatically uses the default engine defined by the ENGINE system option (usually the V9 engine). However, if you are pointing to a specific file type like a Transport file, you must explicitly override this default (e.g., libname trans xport 'C:\data\file.xpt';) or SAS will attempt to read it as a standard native directory and fail.
Think of SAS Engines as universal translators for your data.
Related Documentation
CAS vs. Compute Server: Where Should You Run Your FedSQL Code in SAS Viya
FedSQL is a proprietary SAS implementation of the ANSI SQL:1999 standard, offering scalable, mult...
The Big Four: Decoding the Differences Between Work, User, Sashelp, and Sasuser
This document describes the default SAS libraries (Work, User, Sashelp, Sasuser) provided by SAS,...
Beyond Physical Files: Unlocking the Logical Power of the SAS Dataset Mode
This document explains how SAS engines manage access and processing of data files in the SAS Comp...
Beyond the Basics: Mastering SAS Data Access Models and Record-Level Locking
This document describes the characteristics of SAS engines, including a summary of commonly used ...
SAS Table Structure: Optimize Your Metadata and Sorting (V9/SPD)
This document defines what a SAS data set is, its components (data and metadata), and how it is s...