The DATA Step and ODS

The Output Delivery System (ODS) is a method of delivering output in a variety of formats and making these formats easy to access. ODS provides templates that define the structure of the output from DATA steps and from PROC steps. The DATA step allows you to use the ODS option in a FILE statement and in a PUT statement.

ODS combines raw data with one or more templates to produce several types of output called output objects. Output objects are sent to 'destinations' such as the output destination, the listing destination, the printer destination, or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). For more information, see 'Output Delivery System' on page 170. For complete information about ODS, see SAS Output Delivery System: User's Guide .