BL_QUOTE= Data Set Option

Specifies the quotation character for CSV mode.

Valid in: DATA and PROC steps (when accessing DBMS data using SAS/ACCESS software)
Categories: Bulk Loading
Data Set Control
Default: " (double quotation mark)
Requirements: BL_FORMAT=CSV
MULTILOAD=YES
Data source: Aster, Greenplum, HAWQ, PostgreSQL, Yellowbrick
Note: Support for Yellowbrick was added in SAS 9.4M7.
See: BL_DELIMITER= data set option, BL_ESCAPE= data set option, BL_FORCE_NOT_NULL= data set option, BL_FORMAT= data set option, BL_NULL= data set option, BULKLOAD= data set option

Table of Contents

Syntax

Syntax Description

single 1-byte character

specifies the quoting character to be used when a data value is quoted. This must be a single one-byte character or an octal code that represents a 1-byte character.

Details

This option is allowed only when BL_FORMAT=CSV. The default is a double quotation mark (“). If your data contains the double quotation mark, then set BL_QUOTE= to a character that is not included in the data.

You can specify octal codes to indicate the character to use as a quoting character, such as \001 (Ctrl-A). Specify the octal code within quotation marks, such as BL_QUOTE='\001'.

The characters that are assigned to BL_QUOTE= and to BL_DELIMITER= must be different.

Last updated: February 3, 2026