SAS Library Engines

An engine is a part of SAS software that reads from or writes to a file. Each engine enables SAS software to access files with a particular format.

There are several types of engines:

Library engines control access to SAS data libraries and can be specified in a LIBNAME statement. Native library engines access SAS files created and maintained by SAS, while interface library engines support access to other vendors' files, such as SPSS files.
View engines enable SAS software to read SAS data views described by the SQL procedure (native view) or SAS/ACCESS software (interface view). You cannot specify a view engine in a LIBNAME statement.

For a more detailed description of library engines, see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary. For a list of valid engines, see the SAS documentation for your operating environment.