The OPTIONS Procedure

Overview: OPTIONS Procedure

The OPTIONS procedure lists the current settings of SAS system options in the SAS log.

SAS system options control how SAS formats output, handles files, processes data sets, interacts with the operating environment, and does other tasks that are not specific to a single SAS program or data set. You can change the settings of SAS system options by using one of the following methods:

the SAS command
the option in a configuration or autoexec file
the SAS OPTIONS statement
the OPTLOAD and OPTSAVE procedures
the SAS System Options window
the DMOPTSAVE and DMOPTLOAD commands
in other ways, depending on your operating environment. See the companion for your operating environment for details.

For information about SAS system options, see the section on SAS system options in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

What Types of Output Does PROC OPTIONS Produce?

Displaying a List of System Options

The log that results from running PROC OPTIONS can show both the portable and host system options, their settings, and short descriptions.

The following example shows a partial log that displays the settings of portable options.

proc options;
run;

Log Showing a Partial Listing of SAS System Options

Portable Options:
APPLETLOC=site-specific-llocation
                                 Location of Java applets
ARMAGENT=         ARM Agent to use to collect ARM records
 ARMLOC=ARMLOG.LOG Identify location where ARM records are to be written
 ARMSUBSYS=(ARM_NONE)
                   Enable/Disable ARMing of SAS subsystems
 NOASYNCHIO        Do not enable asynchronous input/output
 AUTOSAVELOC=      Identifies the location where program editor contents are auto saved
 NOAUTOSIGNON      SAS/CONNECT remote submit will not automatically attempt to SIGNON
 BINDING=DEFAULT   Controls the binding edge for duplexed output
 BOMFILE           Add Byte Order Mark when creating Unicode files
 BOTTOMMARGIN=0.000 IN
                   Bottom margin for printed output
 BUFNO=1           Number of buffers for each SAS data set
 BUFSIZE=0         Size of buffer for page of SAS data set
 BYERR             Set the error flag if a null data set is input to the SORT procedure
 BYLINE            Print the by-line at the beginning of each by-group
 BYSORTED          Require SAS data set observations to be sorted for BY processing
 NOCAPS            Do not translate source input to uppercase
 NOCARDIMAGE       Do not process SAS source and data lines as 80-byte records
 CATCACHE=0        Number of SAS catalogs to keep in cache memory
 CBUFNO=0          Number of buffers to use for each SAS catalog
 CENTER            Center SAS procedure output
 CGOPTIMIZE=3      Control code generation optimization
 NOCHARCODE        Do not use character combinations as substitute for special characters not on the keyboard
 CLEANUP           Attempt recovery from out-of-resources condition
 NOCMDMAC          Do not support command-style macros
 CMPLIB=           Identify previously compiled libraries of CMP subroutines to use  when linking
 CMPMODEL=BOTH     Identify CMP model storage type
 CMPOPT=(NOEXTRAMATH NOMISSCHECK NOPRECISE NOGUARDCHECK NOFUNCDIFFERENCING)
                   Enable SAS compiler performance optimizations

Displaying Information about a Single Option

To view the setting of a particular option, you can use the OPTION= and DEFINE options on the PROC OPTIONS statement. The following example shows a log that PROC OPTIONS produces for a single SAS system option.

options pagesize=60; 
proc options option=pagesize define;
run;

The Setting of a Single SAS System Option

8    options pagesize=60;
9    proc options option=pagesize define;
10   run;

    SAS (r) Proprietary Software Release xxx

 PAGESIZE=60
Option Definition Information for SAS Option PAGESIZE
    Group= LOGCONTROL
    Group Description: LOGCONTROL
    Group= LISTCONTROL
    Group Description: Procedure output and display settings
    Group= LOG_LISTCONTROL
    Group Description: SAS log and procedure output settings
    Description: Number of lines printed per page of output
    Type: The option value is of type LONG
          Range of Values: The minimum is 15 and the maximum is 32767
          Valid Syntax(any casing): MIN|MAX|n|nK|nM|nG|nT|hex
    Numeric Format: Usage of LOGNUMBERFORMAT does not impact the value format
    When Can Set: Startup or anytime during the SAS Session
    Restricted: Your Site Administrator cannot restrict modification of this option
    Optsave: Proc Optsave or command Dmoptsave will save this option

Displaying Information About System Option Groups

Each SAS system option belongs to one or more groups, which are based on functionality, such as error handling or sorting. You can display a list of system-option groups and the system options that belong to one or more of the groups.

Use the LISTGROUPS option to display a list of system-option groups.

proc options listgroups;
run;

Partial List of SAS System Option Groups

11   options pagesize=60;
12   proc options listgroups;
13   run;

    SAS (r) Proprietary Software Release xxx

    Option Groups
       GROUP=COMMUNICATIONS         Networking and encryption

       GROUP=ENVDISPLAY             Display

       GROUP=ERRORHANDLING          Error handling

       GROUP=ENVFILES               Files

       GROUP=LANGUAGECONTROL        Language control

       GROUP=EXECMODES              Initialization and operation

       GROUP=EXTFILES               External files

       GROUP=SASFILES               SAS Files

       GROUP=INPUTCONTROL           Data Processing

       GROUP=GRAPHICS               Driver settings

       GROUP=LOGCONTROL             SAS log

       GROUP=LISTCONTROL            Procedure output

       GROUP=LOG_LISTCONTROL        SAS log and procedure output

Use the GROUP= option to display system options that belong to a particular group. You can specify one or more groups.

proc options group=(sort memory;)
run;

Sample Output Using the GROUP= Option

33   proc options group=(sort memory);
34   run;

    SAS (r) Proprietary Software Release XXX

Group=SORT
 SORTDUP=PHYSICAL  SORT applies NODUP option to physical or logical records?
 SORTEQUALS        Maintain order for the input data set in the output data set, when processing
                   identical BY-variable values with Proc Sort
 SORTSEQ=          Collating sequence for sorting
 SORTSIZE=0        Size parameter for sort
 NOSORTVALIDATE    Do not use automatic sort order validation to determine assertion
 SORTANOM=         Host sort option
 SORTCUT=0         Specifies the number of observations above which the host sort program is
                   used instead of the SAS sort program
 SORTCUTP=0        Specifies the number of bytes above which the host sort program should be
                   used instead of the SAS sort program
 SORTDEV=          Specifies the pathname used for temporary host sort files
 SORTPARM=         Specifies the host sort parameters
 SORTPGM=BEST      Specifies the name of the sort utility
Group=MEMORY
 SORTSIZE=0        Size parameter for sort
 SUMSIZE=0         Upper limit for data-dependent memory usage during summarization
 MAXMEMQUERY=0     Maximum amount of memory returned when inquiring as to available space
 MEMBLKSZ=16777216 Size of memory blocks allocated to support MEMLIB and MEMCACHE options.
 MEMMAXSZ=2147483648
                   Maximum amount of memory allocated to support MEMLIB and MEMCACHE options.
 LOADMEMSIZE=0     Suggested memory limit for loaded SAS executables
 MEMSIZE=100663296 Specifies the limit on the total amount of memory to be used by the SAS System
 REALMEMSIZE=0     Limit on the total amount of real memory to be used by the SAS SystemGroup=SORT

The following table lists the values that are available in all operating environments when you use the GROUP= option with PROC OPTIONS.

Values for Use with GROUP=
CODEGEN	HELP	META
COMMUNICATIONS	INPUTCONTROL	ODSPRINT
DATAQUALITY	INSTALL	PDF
EMAIL	LANGUAGECONTROL	PERFORMANCE
ENVDISPLAY	LISTCONTROL	SASFILES
ENVFILES	LOG_LISTCONTROL	SECURITY
ERRORHANDLING	LOGCONTROL	SORT
EXECMODES	MEMORY	SVG
EXTFILES	MACRO
GRAPHICS

The following table lists operating environment-specific values that might be available when you use the GROUP= option with PROC OPTIONS.

Possible Operating Environment-Specific Values for Use with GROUP=
ADABAS	DB2	ISPF	SMF
CODEGEN	IDMS	ORACLE	SPF
DATACOM	IMS	REXX

Operating Environment Information: Refer to the SAS documentation for your operating environment for more information about these host-specific options. [cautionend]

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