a type of SAS data set that contains data values as well as descriptor information that is associated with the data. The descriptor information includes information such as the data types and lengths of the variables, as well as the name of the engine that was used to create the data. See also SAS data set, SAS data view.
one of the forms of a SAS data set that was implemented in Version 6 and later of SAS software. A SAS data file contains both the data values and the descriptor information that is associated with the data, such as the variable attributes. In previous releases of SAS software, all SAS data sets were SAS data files. SAS data files are of member type DATA. In SAS software, a PROC SQL table is a SAS data file.