SAS FAQ
How do I read/write Excel files with .xls extensions in SAS?

Note: The code on this page is for importing and exporting Excel files with .xls extension. We have tested the code using 32-bit and 64-bit version of SAS (version 9.2 and 9.3) on Windows machines.

Reading an Excel file with .xls extension into SAS

Suppose that you have an Excel spreadsheet called auto.xls. The data for this spreadsheet are shown below.

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AMC Concord    22   2930  4099
AMC Pacer      17   3350  4749
AMC Spirit     22   2640  3799
Buick Century  20   3250  4816
Buick Electra  15   4080  7827

Using the Import Wizard is an easy way to import data into SAS.  The Import Wizard can be found on the drop down file menu.  Although the Import Wizard is easy it can be time consuming if used repeatedly.  The very last screen of the Import Wizard gives you the option to save the statements SAS uses to import the data so that they can be used again.  The following is an example that uses common options.

proc import out = WORK.auto1 datafile= "C:\auto.xls" 
            dbms=xls replace;
     sheet="auto1"; 
     getnames=yes;
run;

• The out= option in the proc import tells SAS what the name should be for the newly-created SAS data and where to store the data set once it is imported. In this example, we call the data set auto1 and it will be stored in the WORK directory.
• Next the datafile= option tells SAS where to find the file we want to import. 
• The dbms= option is used to identify the type of file being imported. 
• The replace option will allow SAS to overwrite an existing data file with the same name.
• To specify which sheet SAS should import use the sheet="sheetname" statement.  The default is for SAS to read the first sheet.  
• The getnames=yes is the default setting and SAS will automatically use the first row of data as variable names.  If the first row of your sheet does not contain variable names use the getnames=no. 

Writing  .xls Excel files out from SAS

It is very easy to write out an Excel file using proc export in SAS.

Here is a sample program that writes out auto1 data to an Excel file called mydata.xls into the directory "c:\dissertation".

proc export data=auto1 outfile='c:\dissertation\mydata.xls' dbms = xls replace;
run;

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