topic Re: ODS html path question in SAS Programming

ODS html path question

Nietzsche — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 20:49:09 GMT

Hi, I am reading page 338 of the official specialist base exam prep guide. The book says to reset the ODS destination to HTML output at the end of your programs with this code.

ods html path="%qsysfunc(pathname(work))";

Is this code generic as it is or do I need to change the pathname or my system path?

ods html path="%qsysfunc(/home/u62043935/(work))";

or something as I am a studio user?

sorry if the question sounds stupid.

Re: ODS html path question

Sundaresh1 — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 21:06:48 GMT

Hi @Nietzsche, Printing the macro in SAS Studio, I get :

%put %qsysfunc(pathname(work));
/opt/sas/viya/config/var/tmp/compsrv/default/1784d302-ce0e-459a-8c14-2ba87739be2b/SAS_work745C00000215_sas-launcher-a45f1928-0ae2-45
9e-9ec1-27874a58c13a-1834

which corresponds to the work directory allocated within my pod when the SAS Studio session was launched. You do not need to change the parameter 'work'.

Note that this remains the same for the entire session. If you access SAS Studio from another Incognito window / Private window in the same workstation (i.e. you have to log in again), you will notice that the work directory has changed (because it's a different session).

regards,

Sundaresh

Re: ODS html path question

SASKiwi — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 21:10:15 GMT

The folder SAS uses for the WORK library changes with each new SAS session and that includes SAS Studio. That is why using the PATHNAME example is the way to go. It will work regardless of whether you a using a SAS Studio session, running a SAS batch job and so on.

Re: ODS html path question

Cynthia_sas — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 21:45:49 GMT

Hi:

The WORK library is a temporary library and is stored in a temporary location on the server. The WORK location is automatically closed and the folder deleted when you end your SAS session. On SAS OnDemand, WORK is not under your HOME folder on the server. So the code would be OK as shown in the book without changes.

You can see the location of the WORK library by submitting this code in your session:

%put WORK path is: %qsysfunc(pathname(work));

And in the output, you'll see that the HOME folder and the userID for the test account are not visible in the path for the WORK library.

Here's the screen shot of what it looks like on my test account:

Depending on the operating system where you're running SAS and the defaults set by your system administrator, you may or may not have your default path directed to the WORK library. On my Windows install of SAS, my default location for ODS HTML is the WORK location, so I do use this technique; however, on other systems, my default location is a write access folder or a different temporary location, so I don't use this technique -- I direct the output to a different folder. The downside of this technique is that WORK is deleted at the end of each session. If I direct my output to my personal write access folder, then I am responsible for doing the clean-up..

Cynthia

Re: ODS html path question

Nietzsche — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 23:41:53 GMT

Thank you Cynthia for the detailed screenshot.