For the purpose of this discussion, formats and informats are referred to as formats.

To permanently store a SAS^® format so that it can be used in subsequent SAS sessions, you need to use the LIB= option on the PROC FORMAT statement. This option specifies the library, catalog name, or both, that will contain the format catalog. If the catalog name is omitted, then by default the format catalog will be named FORMATS.

  LIBNAME libref 'path-to-the-format-library';
  PROC FORMAT LIB=libref<.catalog-name>;

Once the formats are permanently stored in a catalog, in order to use them, SAS will need to know where to find them. This is accomplished in two ways.

1. By default, SAS will always look in a library referenced by the LIBRARY libref for a format catalog. This method is to be used when there is only one format library and/or the format catalog name is FORMATS.
2. If you have multiple format libraries, format catalogs named something other than FORMATS or if you wish to specify the order in which format catalogs are searched for a format, you will need to use the FMTSEARCH= option.

     OPTIONS FMTSEARCH=(catalog-specification-1... catalog-specification-n);
   

This option searches format catalogs in the order listed, until the desired member is found. The value of libref can be either libref or libref.catalog. If only the libref is given, SAS assumes that FORMATS is the catalog name. The WORK.FORMATS catalog is always searched first, and the LIBRARY.FORMATS catalog is searched next, unless one of them appears in the FMTSEARCH= list. If a catalog appears in the FMTSEARCH= list, the catalog is searched in the order in which it appears in the list. If a catalog in the list does not exist, that particular item is ignored and searching continues.

To keep from having to list these options each time you invoke SAS, they can be placed in the AUTOEXEC.SAS file. This file contains SAS statements that are executed automatically when you invoke the SAS System or when you start another SAS process. The autoexec file can contain any valid SAS statements. For more information on this file, refer to your system documentation.

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