Hi:
Your X command does not need to be in a DATA _NULL_ program. You may need to investigate some of the options that affect the X command, (NOXWAIT and NOXSYNC)
However, this is not really an ODS or BASE Reporting procedure question. The SAS companion for your operating system gives different ways to execute statements in command or exec file.
For example, if I wanted to have SAS issue an X command to start Word from within a SAS session (sort of a silly example), I could do this (note that there is no data step program in this code at all):
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options noxwait noxsync;
x 'C:\Program~1\Micros~2\Office\winword.exe';
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or, if I want to clean up a file before I start my program, I can do this:
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x 'del c:\temp\oldfile.txt';
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Your best bet for help with this question is to read the documentation for examples of the X command or to contact Tech Support for more help.
cynthia
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