SAS Companion for the Microsoft Windows Environment

Routing Procedure Output and the SAS Log to a File

This section provides examples of routing SAS procedure output and the SAS log to a file. Although not every method of routing output is included, the easiest or most common methods are represented here. Most of this task is the same across operating systems and is discussed in the SAS System Help. However, the specification of external filenames and devices is system dependent. For complete information about the various ways to reference external files, see Referencing External Files.

You can route your SAS procedure output or the SAS log to a file in one of several ways. The method you choose depends on the method 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 entering DLGSAVE in the command bar.
the FILE command
the PRINTTO procedure
various system options, including PRINT and ALTLOG.

The examples in this section illustrate only some of these routing methods. For more information, see the SAS System Help.

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 window, 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 Saving Window Contents to a File.

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 you choose. For example, suppose 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 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 change back 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, set the RECFM= option to P in the FILENAME statement. Note that this affects the way the file is read into the PROGRAM EDITOR, not the file itself. [cautionend]

If you want to send the SAS log to a specific file, use the LOG= option intead 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 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 options values when recording where the procedure output and log are being sent. [cautionend]

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