Data Set Options for Relational Databases NULLCHAR= Data Set Option 197
NULLCHAR= Data Set Option
Indicates how SAS character missing values are handled during insert, update, DBINDEX=, and
DBKEY= processing
Valid in: DATA and PROC steps (when accessing DBMS data using SAS/ACCESS
software)
DBMS support:
DB2 OS/390, DB2 UNIX/PC, Informix, ODBC, OLE DB, Oracle, Microsoft
SQL Server, SYBASE, Teradata
Default value:
SAS
Syntax
NULLCHAR= SAS | YES | NO
Syntax Description
SAS
indicates that character missing values in SAS data sets are treated as NULL values
if the DBMS allows NULLs. Otherwise, character missing values are treated as the
NULLCHARVAL= value.
YES
indicates that character missing values in SAS data sets are treated as NULL values
if the DBMS allows NULLs. Otherwise, an error is returned.
NO
indicates that character missing values in SAS data sets are treated as the
NULLCHARVAL= value (regardless of whether the DBMS allows NULLs for the
column).
Details
This option affects insert and update processing and also applies when you use the
DBINDEX= and DBKEY= options.
This option works in conjunction with the NULLCHARVAL= data set option, which
determines what is inserted when NULL values are not allowed.
All SAS numeric missing values (represented in SAS as ’.’) are treated by the DBMS
as NULLs.
Oracle Details: See the topic on bulk loading in the documentation for the interface
to Oracle for interactions between NULLCHAR and BULKLOAD= .
See Also
“NULLCHARVAL= Data Set Option” on page 198
“DBNULL= Data Set Option” on page 182
