SAS 9.3

Changes to Default Behavior of Output in the SAS Windowing Environment

New Output Defaults in the SAS Windowing Environment

In the SAS windowing environment for SAS 9.3, several new defaults are being implemented in the UNIX and Windows operating environments.
Area of Change
Previous Default
New Default in SAS 9.3
Output Destination
LISTING
HTML
Default style for HTML destination
Styles.Default
Styles.HTMLBlue
ODS Graphics
OFF
ON
Where graphs are saved
Current SAS directory
SAS Work Library
The previous defaults are still used in the following cases:
  • when you run SAS in batch mode
  • when you use the SAS windowing environment in operating environments other than UNIX or Windows
Because of the changes in the default values, you will see the following changes:
  • Results are displayed in the HTMLBlue style, which is a modern style well suited for displaying graphs and tables together. Prior to SAS 9.3, tables were displayed in monospace, and graphs were displayed using the LISTING style.
  • Analytical procedures that support ODS Graphics automatically create graphs. Prior to SAS 9.3, you had to explicitly enable ODS Graphics.
  • Tables and graphs are displayed together in the HTML results viewer window. Prior to SAS 9.3, tables and graphs were displayed separately in the Output and Graph windows.
  • Graphs are no longer saved in the current SAS directory by default. Instead, they are saved in the directory that corresponds to your SAS Work library. Hence, by default, graphs are automatically deleted at the end of your SAS session. You can specify a different directory in your SAS preferences.
To change the defaults:
  1. In the SAS Display Manager, select Toolsthen selectOptionsthen selectPreferences. The Preferences dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Results tab.
  3. From the Style drop-down list, select a new style.
  4. Select LISTING or HTML as the default destination.
  5. Disable or enable ODS Graphics by selecting the check box.
  6. Change the directory where graphs are saved.

ODS Graphics Designer

The ODS Graphics Designer is now part of Base SAS software. SAS/GRAPH is not required in order to use the designer. The documentation has also moved to the Base SAS node in SAS Help and Documentation.
The first production release of ODS Graphics Designer was in the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2. If you are migrating from the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, here are other changes that you need to consider:
  • If you customized preferences, styles, or Graph Gallery files in the previous production release, you must migrate your custom files to the new location for the ODS Graphics Designer. If you do not perform this one-time task, the ODS Graphics Designer in SAS 9.3 will not be able to use your customized preferences, styles, or Graph Gallery files. For instructions, see Manual Tasks for Upgrading to SAS 9.3 ODS Graphics Designer in SAS ODS Graphics Designer: User's Guide.
  • The ODS Graphics Designer retains the SAS 9.2 default style for output. However, if you copy and paste the SAS code from the designer code window and run this code in a SAS session, the output will probably look different from the output in the Designer. Graphs that are output to the default ODS destination in SAS use a different style.

ODS Graphics Editor

The ODS Graphics Designer is now part of Base SAS software. SAS/GRAPH is not required in order to use the editor. The documentation has also moved to the Base SAS node in SAS Help and Documentation. The stand-alone ODS Graphics Editor is no longer required to open ODS Graphics Editor (SGE) files from SAS. However, the stand-alone editor is still available as a download.
The editor does not support the HTMLBlue style, but instead supports a similar style, HTMLBlueCML. These styles differ only when there are groups of observations (for example, separate functions for a GENDER variable). To produce the same output as HTMLBlue in the editor for grouped data, specify the HTMLBlueCML style, and then change the line style and markers to match those used by the HTMLBlue style.

ODS Graphics Procedures

The ODS Graphics procedures, formally called SAS/GRAPH Statistical Graphics procedures, are now part of Base SAS software. SAS/GRAPH is not required in order to use the procedures. The documentation has also moved to the Base SAS node in SAS Help and Documentation.
Note: Graph Template Language has also moved to Base SAS.
If you are migrating from the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2, then you also need to consider the following:
  • The SGDESIGN procedure is now available on z/OS systems with the following restrictions:
    • The SGDESIGN procedure does not render SGD files that were generated with the previous release of the ODS Graphics Designer. You must open the SGD file in the 9.3 release of the ODS Graphics Designer (in a Windows or UNIX operating environment). Then save the file in the 9.3 format.
    • SGD files must be transferred to the HFS file system of UNIX System Services in order to be rendered by the SGDESIGN procedure.
  • The SGDESIGN procedure does not support SGD files that were created before the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2.

Additional Support

SAS 9.3 adds metadata server support for 64-bit z/OS operating environments.

Changes in Software Behavior from SAS 9.2 to 9.3

SAS Procedures

FORMAT procedure
A user-defined format or informat that defines a missing value supersedes a value that is specified by the MISSING system option.
FREQ procedure
Frequency plots and cumulative frequency plots are no longer produced by default when ODS Graphics is enabled. You can request these plots with the PLOTS=FREQPLOT and PLOTS=CUMFREQPLOT options in the TABLES statement.
PRINT procedure
Here are some important changes to SAS 9.3:
  • Each BY group is a separate table, and the observation count is reset to zero at the beginning of each BY group.
  • For the LISTING destination, if HEADING=V, the variable name is used in place of a label if the column heading is too long for the page.
  • ROWS= is valid only for the LISTING destination.
  • If you specify a BY variable whose values are not sorted, SAS stops printing and writes a message to the log.
PRINTTO procedure
Here are some important changes to SAS 9.3:
  • If you use the PRINTTO procedure to write to a file or a catalog entry, you must open the LISTING destination.
  • If SAS is started in object server mode, the PRINTTO procedure does not route log messages to the log that is specified by the ALTLOG= system option.

SAS System Options

APPEND and INSERT system options
These options can no longer be restricted by the site administrator. These options can now be used by any user to modify the value of valid system options.
VALIDVARNAME system option
When VALIDVARNAME=V7 and the variable name is an n literal in a procedure step, the variable name is left-justified and trailing blanks are ignored.

Deprecated Functionality

The use of TAPE drives on UNIX is no longer supported.

Documentation Changes to SAS Language Reference: Dictionary

Starting with SAS 9.3, SAS Language Reference: Dictionary has been divided into seven documents:
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