SAS System Options

MSGLEVEL= System Option

Specifies the level of detail in messages that are written to the SAS log.

Valid in:	configuration file, SAS invocation, OPTIONS statement, SAS System Options window
Category:	Log and procedure output control: SAS log
PROC OPTIONS GROUP=	LOGCONTROL

Syntax

MSGLEVEL= N | I

N: specifies to print notes, warnings, CEDA message, and error messages only. N is the default.
I: specifies to print additional notes pertaining to index usage, merge processing, and sort utilities, along with standard notes, warnings, CEDA message, and error messages.

Some of the conditions under which the MSGLEVEL= system option applies are as follows:

If MSGLEVEL=I, SAS writes informative messages to the SAS log about index processing. In general, when a WHERE expression is executed for a data set with indexes, the following information appears in the SAS log:
- if an index is used, a message displays that specifies the name of the index
- if an index is not used but one exists that could optimize at least one condition in the WHERE expression, messages provide suggestions that describe what you can do to influence SAS to use the index. For example, a message could suggest sorting the data set into index order or to specify more buffers.
- a message displays the IDXWHERE= or IDXNAME= data set option value if the setting can affect index processing.
If MSGLEVEL=I, SAS writes a warning to the SAS log when a MERGE statement would cause variables to be overwritten.
If MSGLEVEL=I, SAS writes a message that indicates which sorting product was used.
For informative messages about queries by an application to a SAS/SHARE server, MSGLEVEL=I must be set for the SAS session where the SAS/SHARE server is running. The messages are written to the SAS log for the SAS session that runs the SAS/SHARE server.