COLUMN_DELIMITER= Data Set Option

Specifies the single character to use as a column (field) delimiter.

Valid in: DATA and PROC steps (when accessing DBMS data using SAS/ACCESS software)
Category: Data Set Control
Aliases: COL_DELIM=
COL_DELIMIT=
COL_DELIMITER=
Default: \001 (Ctrl-A)
Restriction: You must specify a single character or a three-digit decimal value. Other commonly used formats (for example, '\t', 0x09, or '09'x) are invalid.
Requirement: Specify a single-character or three-digit decimal ASCII value between 001 and 127.
Data source: Hadoop
Note: Support for this data set option was added for SAS 9.4.
See: ROW_DELIMITER= data set option
Examples: COLUMN_DELIMITER='#'
COLUMN_DELIMITER=009 (tab)

Syntax

COLUMN_DELIMITER=single-character
Last updated: February 3, 2026