Using the Output Delivery System

The ODS PATH statement controls where ODS stores new templates that you create and where ODS finds the templates that your programs use.¹ 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, the templates that you write are stored in Sasuser.Templat, and the templates that the SAS System provides are stored in Sashelp.Tmplmst. Templates are found in Sashelp.Tmplmst unless you compile and store them in Sasuser.Templat.

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)

See the section Controlling Output Appearance with Templates for more information about the template search path and template stores.