topic Re: Print all output to the log as default? in New SAS User

Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 12:12:13 GMT

Dear SAS support Communities

My goal is to have all output from SAS printed in one window, instead of two windows.

The current default is that all output is printed to both the log and results viewer, but I would like all output to be printed to the log (or everything to the output-window).

By 'output' I mean:

The text that is usually printed to the log (warnings, errors, notes, messages)
...AND the text/html that is usually printed to the 'results viewer' (e.g. the output of 'proc sql; select * from sashelp.class;quit; )

The reason for this goal is that it would give me more screen estate, because 2 windows take up less space than 3 windows.

PS: Printing everything to the output-window instead of the log would also suffice.

PS: I am using SAS 9.4 for Windows

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

PaigeMiller — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:38:57 GMT

Could you please clarify this:

The current default is that all output is printed to both the log and results viewer

By 'output' I mean:

The text that is usually printed to the log (warnings, errors, notes, messages)

...AND the text/html that is usually printed to the 'results viewer' (e.g. the output of 'proc sql; select * from sashelp.class;quit; )

That would not be the default I have seen in over 9 centuries of SAS usage. Do you really mean that log and also PROC outputs goes both places (and so is duplicated), or do you mean that LOG text goes to the LOG window, and the output goes to the OUTPUT window?

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:47:01 GMT

You are right. The default is that LOG-text goes to the log window, and the output-text goes to the output window.

Basically I want the output of things like 'proc sql; select * from sashelp.class;quit;' to go to the log.

Is this possible?

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

andreas_lds — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 11:49:12 GMT

afaik no, this is not possible.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

PaigeMiller — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:29:19 GMT

I don't know how to re-direct both LOG and OUTPUT to the exact same window. I am skeptical this is a good idea anyway, if you don't want to see a window, you can just minimize it; and if everything is in one window then scrolling and finding the log or the output you want takes longer and could be more confusing.

You can redirect both the log and output to the same output FILE as follows (note, that nothing will be written to both the LOG window and OUTPUT window when you do this, and the Results window will not be able to point you to your output, which all seem like major disadvantages to me...)

proc printto log="myfolder\pm.txt" print="myfolder\pm.txt"; run;
/* NOTE: both LOG= and PRINT= point to the same file */
ods html close;
ods listing;
proc sql;
    select * from sashelp.class;
quit;
proc printto; run; /* This turns off the re-direction of LOG and OUTPUT to the same file */

So, you can redirect either the log or the output (or both), which gives you a plethora of choices, one of which might work better for you than having both log and output in the same window or file.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:40:26 GMT

Thanks.
Coming from R, I am used to (mainly) only having two windows: (1) script and (2) console (which prints results as text and the equivalent of the SAS-log). With my background having 3 windows open at the same time in SAS takes up screen estate, and seems unnecessary, I am used to having everything printed to one window. I could also just minimize the results or log window, but opening it or switching to it disturbs my work flow (reaching for the mouse or Ctr-tabbing though to the right window). But maybe my I am using it wrong? How is your setup, and how do you avoid these problems?

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

Tom — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:49:45 GMT

Just program one of the function keys (or any other programmable key) to open the LOG, PGM or OUTPUT window.

Personally I normally keep them all full screen and just toggle between them.

Use the KEYS window to change how you have programmed the keys.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

PaigeMiller — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 13:04:23 GMT

My workflow is simply I minimize or maximize windows as needed. Also, as pointed out by @Tom you can switch from one window to another with keyboard shortcuts, which you can assign if you don't like the defaults, and I do this as well.

I find having a working Results window is very helpful, if I am running a string of PROCs and each one writes to the OUTPUT, I can simply use the Results window to go directly to the outputs from the third PROC in the sequence, if that's what I want to do.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

WarrenKuhfeld — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 13:07:52 GMT

https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.3/hostunx/n16ui9f6dacn8pn1t0y2hgxgi7wa.htm

Have you tried line mode? Particularly when you are developing and debugging code, line mode can be helpful.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

Reeza — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 15:31:15 GMT

RStudio would have had two or three output windows as well. You would have had the console which is the log, then you would have any RMD or Output files which are more similar to ODS output files and the plots in the bottom right corner. You can use a Jupyter Notebook with SAS, perhaps that will get you closer to the same type of functionality you need.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

Sajid01 — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:50:24 GMT

Hello @rasmuslarsen

I agree with @WarrenKuhfeld . This gives you something very close to R console.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

WarrenKuhfeld — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 18:31:18 GMT

Let me follow up on my line mode comment. When I was a SAS developer, I did most of my editing in emacs. I developed some emacs commands to write the entire buffer, from the point down, a marked region, or the next step to a file then automatically %include that file in the SAS line mode window. It was like my personal display manager. Now granted, as a SAS developer, my methods of using SAS were different than most users. I would at times enable debugging code, and I always wanted to see those results in amongst the log and output. It worked really well for me, and a number of my colleagues used my emacs tools. As primitive as line mode seems, I found it highly effective when coupled with some SAS-specific editing capabilities.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 12:11:46 GMT

Line mode sounds good. However it is only on Linux right?
I am on Windows (I should have written that in the question).

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 12:20:25 GMT

Thanks. Is it possible to create a shortcut to maximize the current window? E.g. the results-window or the log-window?

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

WarrenKuhfeld — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:59:28 GMT

I used Unix for most of my career, so haven't tried it, but this should be helpful. https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/hostwin/p16esisc4nrd5sn1ps5l6u8f79k6.htm#n1rcikkd50j7rbn1sb9ydwhozujp

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

Tom — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:01:09 GMT

Don't know. There is a one click button on the screen to do that however. Pretty standard feature of all windowing systems.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:27:48 GMT

Thanks, yes I know 🙂 But I would like to avoid using the mouse.
For those interested i found the shortcut for in Windows 10 for maximizing 'internal' windows (e.g. the results window, which is 'internal' to the SAS-window):
[Alt] + [-], [x].

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

Tom — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:42:58 GMT

The DMS command is ZOOM. So ZOOM OFF goes back to default size. ZOOM ON goes to full screen.

Map those commands to any available key using the KEYS command.

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 17:05:11 GMT

Great, thanks! 🙂

Re: Print all output to the log as default?

rasmuslarsen — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 11:29:46 GMT

No. Working in an rscript typically looks like this:

Both the results and the log-messages goes in the console.

Any plots generated are either in side panel or popup-window.

The output of an Rmarkdown is the same, but can also be inline (in the source window), or indeed as a third window when generating the whole Rmarkdown, but this is typically done rarely or at the end of a session.