ACCESS Procedure

Accessing DBMS Data

SAS still supports this legacy procedure. However, to access your relational DBMS data more directly, it is recommended that you use the SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement or the SQL pass-through facility. To determine whether this feature is available in your environment for your interface, see SAS/ACCESS Features by Host.

With the DBLOAD procedure and an interface view engine, the ACCESS procedure creates an interface between SAS and data in vendor databases. You can use this procedure to create and update descriptors.

About ACCESS Procedure Statements

This procedure has several types of statements:

This table summarizes PROC ACCESS options and statements that are required to accomplish common tasks.

Statement Sequence for Accomplishing Tasks with the ACCESS Procedure

Task

Statements and Options to Use

Create an access descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options;
CREATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;
database-connection-statements;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Create an access descriptor and a view descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options;
CREATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;
database-connection-statements;
editing-statements;
CREATE libref.member-name.VIEW;
SELECT column-list;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Create a view descriptor from an existing access descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options, including ACCDESC=libref.access-descriptor;
CREATE libref.member-name.VIEW;
SELECT column-list;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Update an access descriptor

PROC ACCESS statement-options;
UPDATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;
database-connection-statements;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Update an access descriptor and a view descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options;
UPDATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;
database-connection-statements;
editing-statements;
UPDATE libref.member-name.VIEW;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Update an access descriptor and create a view descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options;
UPDATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;
database-connection-statements;
editing-statements;
CREATE libref.member-name.VIEW;
SELECT column-list;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Update a view descriptor from an existing access descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options, including ACCDESC=libref.access-descriptor;
UPDATE libref.member-name.VIEW;
editing-statements;
RUN;

Create a SAS data set from a view descriptor
PROC ACCESS statement-options, including DBMS=dbms-name;
VIEWDESC=libref.member; OUT=libref.member;
RUN;
Last updated: February 3, 2026