How to Know a SAS Step Is Not Progressing

For each SAS dataset being created or modified by a SAS step, a .lck file will be created in work directory. This .lck file has the file name like .sas7bdat.lck. SAS will write the output for this dataset to this .lck file. Once the step is completed, the .lck file will be renamed as .sas7bdat. If the step progresses well, this .lck file should increase its file size continuously. If not, it indicated something wrong with this step. For example, if you run a PROC SQL to retrieve data from a database and it never finishes, then you can look at the .lck file. If its size stays at 1KB, then definitely there is something wrong with this PROC SQL step and worth investigating.