Clearing Temporary SAS Files (SAS)

If you are like me, and typically work with very large data sets, you may run into issues with SAS grinding to a halt due to a lack of hard drive space on your primary local disk. 

There are two options that can rectify this dilemma.

The first option is to clear your computer's “SAS Temporary Files” folder.

First you must locate the “SAS Temporary Files” folder. This can be achieved through utilizing the Windows search feature. Once you have located the file, I would recommend creating a shortcut to the location on your desktop. From this shortcut, you will be able to delete the contents of the folder.

The second option is slightly more difficult and involves changing the SAS ‘Work’ Directory. SAS, for whatever reason, neglected to present the user with this option from within the SAS Enhanced Editor. Instead, you will have to search for the:

“sasv9.cfg” file on your hard drive.

Once you have found this file, I would recommend making a back-up copy of it elsewhere on your computer. The file can only be opened with a notepad or text editor. 

Once the original file is open, it can be edited. Below is a link to The SAS University website which provides further instructions. 

Link to SAS University's Website.

You will only be able to re-save this file as text document within the SAS program directory. In order to ensure that the file can be read correctly by SAS, you will need to enable the Window’s 10 option which allows for file extensions to be viewed and modified by the user. Once this extension is enabled,  you will have the ability to edit the extension back to a .cfg.

After you have completed this step, delete the original non-copied version of this file within the SAS directory, as you do not want two of such files to exist concurrently.

Another less difficult option to clear disk space, is to run the Window’s Disk Cleanup utility. To find this utility, on Windows 10, type “Disk Cleanup” into the Cortana search bar on the desktop. Disk Cleanup usually only frees up a marginal amount of space on the primary local drive, but running it can do no harm, so why not?