ODS uses the word "path" to mean different things in different contexts. This section discusses the ODS PATH statement, which controls and displays the template search path. Other uses of the word "path" include the name path and label path, which are discussed in the section Paths and Selection. The ODS PATH statement controls where ODS stores new templates that you create and where ODS finds the templates that your programs use. Compiled templates are stored in a template store, which is a type of item store. (An item store is a special type of SAS file.)

By default, templates that you write are stored in SASUSER.Templat. Also see section Controlling Output Appearance with Templates for more information about the template search path and template stores.

You can see the list of active template stores by submitting the following statement:

ods path show;

By default, the results are as follows:

   Current ODS PATH list is:

   1. SASUSER.TEMPLAT(UPDATE)
   2. SASHELP.TMPLMST(READ)

Templates are found in SASHELP.Tmplmst unless you compile and store them in SASUSER.Templat.