The ODS PRINTER statement controls the same set of output as the ODS HTML statement; if you are already familiar with that statement, little more needs to be said. The SAS Ouput Delivery System (ODS) only affects the output of the procedures that support ODS; it has no effect on DM statements. Essentially all procedures (including the DATA step) support ODS except for full-screen products, such as AF, FSP, and the PROC REPORT window. ODS also does not affect DM commands and/or windows.

Perhaps we made a mistake in calling this output destination PRINTER. We had originally considered calling it the POSTSCRIPT destination. However, it can also produce PCL portably, and under Windows it can produce output for Epson, OkiData, and all the other printers supported by Windows, so we came up with "ODS PRINTER" as being a more generic name.

However, it seems to get people thinking that it somehow replaces or interacts with the SAS printing system when in fact it does no such thing. It's just another ODS output destination.

What is the interaction between the ODS PRINTER statement and the typical SAS procedure?

All the output that is normally printed to the LISTING (the OUTPUT window) will also be printed to the specified ODS PRINTER destination.

What is the interaction between the ODS PRINTER statement and the DATA step?

All the output that is normally printed to the LISTING (the OUTPUT window) will also be printed to the specified ODS PRINTER destination.

What is the interaction between the ODS PRINTER statement and File -> Print from the SAS windowing environment?

There is no interaction. The ODS PRINTER statement will not affect the operation of any commands in the windowing environment.

What is the interaction between the ODS PRINTER statement and (full-screen) applications?

There is no such interaction. The ODS PRINTER statement will not affect the operation of any full-screen applications.

What is the interaction between the ODS PRINTER statement and SAS/GRAPH?

The output from the SAS/GRAPH procedure will be printed to the ODS PRINTER output destination. In order to get this to work correctly, the SAS/GRAPH target device must be set to a special device, and the ODS PRINTER statement automatically does this for you. The target is restored to its former value by the ODS PRINTER CLOSE statement. The target device is left alone if you had already set it.

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