Storing SAS data (including table structure) in a single flat file

I need to convert SAS data tables into flat files (or "ASCII files" as they were called once, as opposed to binary files). And only one flat file for each original SAS table. The challenging thing is that I want the flat file to contain some structural information of the original SAS table also, specifically:

• Variable/Column name
• Variable/Column label
• Variable/Column type
• Variable/Column length
• Variable/Column format
• Variable/Column informat

Additional information:

• I will only need to convert small data (< 100 obs).
• Performance is not an issue (within reasonable limits).
• The flat file should form a basis for recreating the original SAS table, I don't need to be able to use the file directly as a table in DATA or PROC steps.

The standard SAS tables, transport files, XPORT files, etc are all binary format files, and the standard XML table format in SAS and CSV-files don't preserve table structure. So obviously these options don't help.

What is my best option?

I'm not aware of any easy solutions.

Possibly:

1. Use PROC EXPORT to produce CSV file with the data in it.
2. Use PROC DATASETS with ODS to produce a dataset with the names, types, etc.
3. Produce another CSV file for this dataset.

Now you've got your ASCII description of the table (spread over two CSV files). Reversing the process would be more tricky. Basically you'd have to read in the description data set, then use CALL SYMPUT in a loop to create a bunch of macro variables with the information in them, then use your macro variables to build a PROC IMPORT for the CSV file...