Output Objects and ODS Destinations

Using the Output Delivery System

Output Objects and ODS Destinations

All SAS procedures produce output objects that the Output Delivery System delivers to various ODS destinations, according to the default specifications for the procedure or to your own specifications. All output objects (for example, a table of parameter estimates) consist of two component parts:

the data component, which consists of the results computed by a SAS procedure
the template, which contains rules for formatting and displaying the results

When you invoke a SAS procedure, the procedure sends all output to the Output Delivery System. ODS then routes the output to all open destinations. You define the form that the output should take when you specify an ODS destination. Supported destinations are as follows:

listing destination (the standard SAS listing), which is the default
HTML destination, hypertext markup language
output destination, SAS data set
postscript and PCL for high fidelity printers

Future versions of ODS will support the following additional destinations:

ODS Output Document for modifying and replaying output without rerunning the procedure that created it
Rich Text Format (RTF) for inclusion in Microsoft Word

You can activate multiple ODS destinations at the same time, so that a single procedure step can route output to multiple destinations. If you do not supply any ODS statements, ODS delivers all output to the SAS listing, which is the default.

Each output object has an associated template that defines its presentation format. You can modify the presentation of the output by using the TEMPLATE procedure to alter these templates or to create new templates. You can also specify stylistic elements for ODS destinations, such as cell formats and headers, column ordering, colors, and fonts. For detailed information, refer to the chapter titled "The Template Procedure" in The Complete Guide to the SAS Output Delivery System.

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