SAS Companion for the OS/2 Environment

Routing Procedure Output and the SAS Log to a File

This section provides examples of the most common methods of routing SAS procedure output and the SAS log to a file. Generally, this task is the same across operating environments and is discussed in the SAS System Help. However, the specification of external filenames and devices is system dependent. See Referencing External Files for complete information about the various ways to reference external files.

You can route your SAS procedure output or the SAS log to a file in one of several ways. The method that you choose depends on the method that you use to run the SAS System, the moment at which you make your decision to route the output or SAS log, and your personal preference.

Some methods of sending SAS procedure output or the SAS log to a file include using

the Save As dialog box, invoked either from the File menu, the pop-up menu for the window that you want to save, or by typing DLGSAVE in the command bar.
the FILE command.
the PRINTTO procedure.
various system options, including PRINT and ALTLOG.

Using the Save As Dialog Box

The easiest way to save the contents of the active window to a file is to select

File Save As
from the main SAS menu or pop-up menu, making sure that the active window (for example, Log or Output) contains the output that you want to save. For more information about the Save As dialog box, see Opening and Saving Files.

Using the PRINTTO Procedure

In batch SAS sessions, the SAS procedure output and the SAS log are written by default to files named filename.LST and filename.LOG, respectively, where filename is the name of your SAS job. For example, if your SYSIN file is MYPROG.SAS, the procedure output file is named MYPROG.LST, and the log file is named MYPROG.LOG. However, you can override these default filenames and send your output and log to any file that you choose. For example, suppose that your job contains the following statements, which assign the fileref MYOUTPUT to the file C:\SAS\FIRST.TXT. Then the PROC PRINTTO statement tells the SAS System to send any upcoming SAS procedure output to the file that is associated with MYOUTPUT.

filename myoutput 'c:\sas\first.txt';
proc printto print=myoutput;
run;

Any PROC or DATA statements that follow these statements and that generate output send their output to the C:\SAS\FIRST.TXT file, not to the default procedure output file. If you want to return to the default file, issue an empty PROC PRINTTO statement like the following example:

proc printto;
run;

Issuing these statements redirects the SAS procedure output to the default destination (filename.LST). In this way, you can send the output and log from different parts of the same SAS job to different files.

Note: If you route procedure output to a file, the resulting file may contain carriage control characters. To suppress these control characters when you include the file in the Program Editor window, set the RECFM= option to P in the FILENAME statement. [cautionend]

If you want to send the SAS log to a specific file, use the LOG= option instead of the PRINT=option in the PROC PRINTTO statement. For more information about the PRINTTO procedure, see PRINTTO and SAS Procedures Guide.

Note: When you use the PRINTTO procedure to route SAS procedure output or the SAS log, the status window does not reflect any rerouting of batch output but indicates that it is routing the procedure output file and log to filename.LST and filename.LOG. [cautionend]

Using SAS System Options

You can use SAS system options to route your SAS output or SAS log to a file. For example, if you want to override the default behavior and send your procedure output from a batch SAS job to the file C:\SAS\PROG1.TXT, you can invoke the SAS System with the following command:

sas -sysin c:\sas\prog1 
    -print c:\sas\prog1.txt

This SAS command executes the SAS program PROG1.SAS and sends the procedure output to the file C:\SAS\PROG1.TXT. You can treat the SAS Log similarly by using the LOG system option instead of the PRINT system option. Two other related system options, the ALTPRINT and ALTLOG options, are explained in ALTPRINT and ALTLOG.

Note: The status window does reflect the PRINT and LOG system option values when it records where the procedure output and log are being sent. [cautionend]

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