Defeating the dreaded YZR malfunction

Ever seen this?

ERROR: YZR malfunction file BLAHBLAH.DATA trashed or YZR code bug

Using Windows 7, I tried to open a SAS file created using SPSS 19 on my Mac and saved in Dropbox and got a brand new (to me) error.  I thought perhaps it was Dropbox, because that was brand-new to me also. I saved the file on a flash drive, made the great sacrifice of walking the three feet over to the Windows computer and got the same problem again.

If you are getting this error switching from SPSS on a Mac to a Windows computer, here is how to solve it in five seconds.

1. Instead of saving as a regular SAS file (sas7bdat) save as a SAS transport file (xpt). Both are options when you are saving your file in SPSS 19.

2. When opening your file for the first time in SAS, use the code below.

libname in xport "g:\mysurvey.xpt" ;
data newfile ;
set in.sas ;

Fixed. Done. You’re welcome.