title: Python sas7bdat module - iterator or memory intensive?
body: <p>I'm wondering if the sas7bdat module in Python creates an iterator-type object or loads the entire file into memory as a list?  I'm interested in doing something line-by-line to a .sas7bdat file that is on the order of 750GB, and I <em>really</em> don't want Python to attempt to load the whole thing into RAM.</p>
  
  <p>Example script:</p>
  
  <pre><code>from sas7bdat import SAS7BDAT
  count = 0
  with SAS7BDAT('big_sas_file.sas7bdat') as f:
   for row in f:
    count+=1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I can also use </p>
  
  <pre><code>it = f.__iter__()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I'm not sure if that will still go through a memory-intensive data load.  Any knowledge of how sas7bdat works OR another way to deal with this issue would be greatly appreciated!</p>