Commonly Used ODS Terminology

data component

• is a form, similar to a SAS data set, that contains the results ( numbers and characters ) of a DATA step or PROC step that supports ODS.

table definition

• is a set of instructions that describes how to format the data. This description includes but is not limited to

  • the order of the columns

  • text and order of column headings

  • formats for data

  • font sizes and font faces.

output object

• is an object that contains both the results of a DATA step or PROC step and information about how to format the results. An output object has a name , label, and path . For example, the Basic Statistical Measurement table generated from the UNIVARIATE procedure is an output object. It contains the data component and formatted presentation of the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, range, and interquartile range.

• Note: Although many output objects include formatting instructions, not all of them do. In some cases the output object consists of only the data component.

ODS destinations

• are designations that produce specific types of output. ODS supports a number of destinations, including the following:

  • LISTING

    • produces traditional SAS output (monospace format).

  • Markup Languages

    • produce SAS output that is formatted using one of many different markup languages such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), and LaTeX that you can access with a web browser. SAS supplies many markup languages for you to use ranging from DOCBOOK to TROFF. You can specify a markup language that SAS supplies or create one of your own and store it as a user -defined markup language.

  • DOCUMENT

    • produces a hierarchy of output objects that enables you to produce multiple ODS output formats without rerunning a PROC or DATA step and gives you more control over the structure of the output.

  • OUTPUT

    • produces a SAS data set.

  • Printer Family

    • produces output that is formatted for a high-resolution printer such as a PostScript (PS), PDF, or PCL file.

  • RTF

    • produces output that is formatted for use with Microsoft Word.

ODS output

• ODS output consists of formatted output from any of the ODS destinations. For example, the OUTPUT destination produces SAS data sets; the LISTING destination produces listing output; the HTML destination produces output that is formatted in Hypertext Markup Language.