PARTITION_KEY= LIBNAME Statement Option

Specifies the column name to use as the partition key for creating fact tables.

Valid in: SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement
Category: Data Set Control
Default: none
Requirements: To create a data set in Aster without error, either specify DIMENSION=YES for the LIBNAME or data set option or specify a partition key in the PARTITION_KEY= LIBNAME or data set option.
You must enclose the column name in quotation marks.
Data source: Aster
See: DIMENSION= LIBNAME option, DIMENSION= data set option, PARTITION_KEY= data set option

Table of Contents

Syntax

PARTITION_KEY='column-name'

Details

Aster uses dimension and fact tables.

Example: Create a Dimension Table

This first example shows how you can use the SAS data set, SASFLT.flightschedule, to create an Aster dimension table, flightschedule, by using the DIMENSION= DATA step option.

LIBNAME sasflt 'SAS-library';
LIBNAME net_air ASTER user=myusr1 pwd=mypwd1 server=air2 database=flights;
data net_air.flightschedule(dimension=yes);
  set sasflt. flightschedule;
run;

You can create the same Aster dimension table by specifying DIMENSION=YES in the LIBNAME statement.

LIBNAME sasflt 'SAS-library';
LIBNAME net_air ASTER user=myusr1 pwd=mypwd1 server=air2
        database=flights dimension=yes;
data net_air.flightschedule;
  set sasflt. flightschedule;
run;

If you do not specify DIMENSION=YES by using either the LIBNAME or data set option, the Aster engine tries to create an Aster fact table. To do this, however, you must specify the PARTITION_KEY= LIBNAME or data set option, as shown in this example.

LIBNAME sasflt 'SAS-library';
LIBNAME net_air ASTER user=myusr1 pwd=mypwd1 server=air2 database=flights;
data net_air.flightschedule(dbtype=(flightnumber=integer)
     partition_key='flightnumber');
  set sasflt. flightschedule;
run;

You can create the same Aster fact table by using the PARTITION_KEY= LIBNAME option.

LIBNAME sasflt 'SAS-library';
LIBNAME net_air ASTER user=myusr1 pwd=mypwd1 server=air2 database=flights
        partition_key='flightnumber';
data net_air.flightschedule(dbtype=(flightnumber=integer));
  set sasflt. flightschedule;
run;

The above examples use the DBTYPE= data set option so that the data type of the partition-key column meets the limitations of the Aster partition-key column.

Last updated: February 3, 2026