REPLACE Subcommand (SAVE TRANSLATE command)

REPLACE gives permission to overwrite an existing file (or database table) of the same name. REPLACE takes no further specifications.

  • SAVE TRANSLATE will not overwrite an existing file without an explicit REPLACE subcommand. The default behavior is to not overwrite.
  • For database tables (TYPE=ODBC), APPEND and REPLACE are mutually exclusive.

Note: For database tables, REPLACE destroys an existing table and replaces it with the data written by the SAVE TRANSLATE command, which may lead to loss of database-specific information, such as the designation of key variables (fields) and data formats. If you want to update an existing table with new values in some existing rows or by adding additional fields to the table, see the SQL subcommand.