OPTIONS Statement

Specifies or changes the value of one or more SAS system options.
Valid in: Anywhere
Category: Program Control
See: OPTIONS Statement under z/OS

Syntax

OPTIONS option(s);

Arguments

option
specifies one or more SAS system options to be changed.

Details

The change that is made by the OPTIONS statement remains in effect for the rest of the job, session, SAS process, or until you issue another OPTIONS statement to change the options again. You can specify SAS system options through the OPTIONS statement, through the OPTIONS window, at SAS invocation, and at the initiation of a SAS process.
Note: If you want a particular group of options to be in effect for all your SAS jobs or sessions, store an OPTIONS statement in an autoexec file or list the system options in a configuration file or custom_option_set.
Note: For a system option with a null value, the GETOPTION function returns a value of ' ' (single quotation marks with a blank space between them), for example EMAILID=' '. This GETOPTION value can then be used in the OPTIONS statement.
An OPTIONS statement can appear at any place in a SAS program, except within data lines.
Operating Environment Information: The system options that are available depend on your operating environment. Also, the syntax that is used to specify a system option in the OPTIONS statement might be different from the syntax that is used at SAS invocation. For details, see the SAS documentation for your operating environment.

Comparisons

The OPTIONS statement requires you to enter the complete statement including system option name and value, if necessary. The SAS OPTIONS window displays the options' names and settings in columns. To change a setting, type over the value that is displayed and press ENTER or RETURN.

Example: Changing the Value of a System Option

This example suppresses the date that is normally written to SAS LISTING output and sets a line size of 72:
options nodate linesize=72;

See Also

Definition of System Options in SAS System Options: Reference