How do I get SAS encoding option programmatically?

Question

How do I find out the SAS global encoding option programmatically? I can run proc options, and it will give me the answer, but I need to do it from code.

I am hoping for an answer on the lines of "look at the macro symbol &sysencoding", but this might be too much to hope for. I would prefer to avoid fragile things like writing to an external file and re-parsing.

Answer 1

You can use the GETOPTION function in Base SAS:

data _null_;
  val=GETOPTION('encoding');
  put val=;
run;

On my system this gives the log output

5    data _null_;
6      val=GETOPTION('encoding');
7      put val=;
8    run;

val=LATIN1

In SCL (SAS Component Language) you can use the OPTGETC and OPTGETN functions. See the manual for your specific version of the SAS System for further details.

Answer 2

In SAS 9.2 &sysencoding will give you the same thing as getoption('encoding') though the case differs (it's described briefly here).

157  %put &sysencoding;
wlatin1
158
159  data _null_;
160    val=GETOPTION('encoding');
161    put val=;
162  run;

val=WLATIN1