Date:         Sun, 11 Feb 1996 08:39:12 EST
Reply-To:     marla@EMUVAX.EMICH.EDU
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         marla@EMUVAX.EMICH.EDU
Organization: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti
Subject:      Efficient processing of external Datasets

    I need to read a large file (~150 variables >600 LRECL >1 Million rows)
containing different data types - packed/binary/float/character etc.
(The input file is NOT a SAS dataset).
    Need to convert it to a CSV file with quotes around character variables
and comma separated.
    We are using the QUOTE function to quote the character variables and
inserting commas between the variables with a 'put +(-1) ','.
    This simple program is turning out to be a CPU hog.    The program runs on
the MVS mainframe and is a real bottleneck.     The program only contains a
single INPUT statement, a series of statement to QUOTE character variables,
followed by a single PUT statement.
    Is there anyway I can speed up processing?    Or, is SAS generally not
good with external files?
    TIA.