Models can be saved in and recalled from SAS catalog files as well as XML-based data sets. SAS catalogs are special files that can store many kinds of data structures as separate units in one SAS file. Each separate unit is called an entry, and each entry has an entry type that identifies its structure to the SAS system. Starting with SAS 9.2, model files are being stored as SAS data sets instead of being stored as members of a SAS catalog as in earlier releases. This makes MODEL files more readily extendable in the future and enables Java-based applications to read the MODEL files directly. You can choose between the two formats by specifying a global CMPMODEL option in an OPTIONS statement. Details are given below.

In general, to save a model, use the OUTMODEL=name option in the PROC MODEL statement, where name is specified as libref.catalog.entry, libref.entry, or entry for catalog entry and, starting with SAS 9.2, libref.datasetname or datasetname for XML-based SAS datasets. The libref, catalog, datasetnames and entry names must be valid SAS names no more than 32 characters long. The catalog name is restricted to seven characters on the CMS operating system. If not given, the catalog name defaults to MODELS, and the libref defaults to WORK. The entry type is always MODEL. Thus, OUTMODEL=X writes the model to the file WORK.MODELS.X.MODEL in the SAS catalog or creates a WORK.X XML-based dataset in the WORK library depending on the format chosen by using the CMPMODEL= option. By default, both these formats are chosen.

The CMPMODEL= option can be used in an OPTIONS statement to modify the behavior when reading and writing MODEL files. The values allowed are CMPMODEL= BOTH | XML | CATALOG. For example, the following statements restore the previous behavior:

   options cmpmodel=catalog;

The CMPMODEL= option defaults to BOTH in SAS 9.2 and is intended for transitional use. If CMPMODEL=BOTH, the MODEL procedure writes both formats; when loading model files PROC MODEL attempts to load the XML version first and the CATALOG version second (if the XML version is not found). If CMPMODEL=XML, the MODEL procedure reads and writes only the XML format. If CMPMODEL=CATALOG, only the catalog format is used.

The MODEL= option is used to read in a model. A list of model files can be specified in the MODEL= option, and a range of names with numeric suffixes can be given, as in MODEL=(MODEL1–MODEL10). When more than one model file is given, the list must be placed in parentheses, as in MODEL=(A B C), except in case of a single name. If more than one model file is specified, the files are combined in the order listed in the MODEL= option.

The MODEL procedure continues to read and write catalog MODEL files, and model files created by previous releases of SAS/ETS continue to work, so you should experience no direct impact from this change.

When the MODEL= option is specified in the PROC MODEL statement and model definition statements are also given later in the PROC MODEL step, the model files are read in first, in the order listed, and the model program specified in the PROC MODEL step is appended after the model program read from the MODEL= files. The class assigned to a variable, when multiple model files are used, is the last declaration of that variable. For example, if Y1 was declared endogenous in the model file M1 and exogenous in the model file M2, the following statement causes Y1 to be declared exogenous.

   proc model model=(m1 m2);

The INCLUDE statement can be used to append model code to the current model code. In contrast, when the MODEL= option is used in the RESET statement, the current model is deleted before the new model is read.

By default, no model file is output if the PROC MODEL step performs any FIT or SOLVE tasks, or if the MODEL= option or the NOSTORE option is used. However, to ensure compatibility with previous versions of SAS/ETS software, when the PROC MODEL step does nothing but compile the model program, no input model file is read, and the NOSTORE option is not used, a model file is written. This model file is the default input file for a later PROC SYSLIN or PROC SIMLIN step. The default output model filename in this case is WORK.MODELS._MODEL_.MODEL.

If FIT statements are used to estimate model parameters, the parameter estimates written to the output model file are the estimates from the last estimation performed for each parameter.