Option Syntax :: SAS(R) 9.3 Companion for z/OS, Second Edition

Overview of Option Syntax

You can specify options on the SASRX command line. As described below, there are two categories of options and two types of options, and there are two styles of option specification.

Option Categories

SASRX supports two categories of options, SASRX options and SAS system options.

SASRX options

SASRX options are defined internally to SASRX. SASRX options control what SASRX does in preparing to invoke SAS. The effect of these options occurs before SAS begins executing, such as through the allocation of data sets. For information about SASRX options, see the tables in SASRX Options.

SAS system options

All other options that SASRX does not recognize are assumed to be SAS system options. SASRX does not validate or act on options that it does not recognize; it only passes them to SAS. For information about SAS system options, see System Options in the z/OS Environment.

Option Types

SASRX options and SAS system options are further classified as either switch options or value options. Switch options are specified by a keyword that is not followed by any value. Value options are specified as a keyword that is followed by a value.

Option Specification Styles

SASRX supports two different styles of option specifications, CLIST style and UNIX style. For a CLIST style specification of a switch option, specify only the keyword. For a CLIST style specification of a value option, follow the keyword with optional blank spaces and a value in parentheses, for example linesize(72).

The distinguishing feature of a UNIX style option specification is that the keyword is prefixed with a hyphen. For a UNIX style specification of a switch option, specify the keyword prefixed with a hyphen. Use the following guidelines and examples to write UNIX style specifications of value options:

The value follows after a blank space or an equal sign.
```
-linesize 72
-linesize=72
```
For SASRX options, any value can be enclosed in parentheses, even if the parentheses are not required. For options that accept a list of values, the list is required to be enclosed in parentheses or quotation marks if it contains more than one value.
```
-input=( 'my.input.one' 'my.input.two' )
-input=" 'my.input.one' 'my.input.two' "
```
For SAS system options, parentheses can be used only with options that require them for enclosing a list of values. Quotation marks cannot be used instead of parentheses.

Additional Syntax Considerations

If you specify more than one option, separate the option specifications by one or more blank spaces. When using CLIST style specification, you can also separate option specifications with a comma instead of a blank space.

CLIST style and UNIX style option specifications can be intermixed on the command line, with a special caution that is discussed in Option Classification When UNIX Style and CLIST Style Are Mixed. Because the two option specification styles can be intermixed, and because SAS system options are accepted, SASRX does not support the UNIX convention that an argument that does not begin with a hyphen is an input filename. You must specify -input explicitly to identify a SAS program input file, even if UNIX style option specification is used exclusively.

SASRX option names can be truncated to the minimum unique abbreviation. For example, O is the minimum abbreviation for the OPTIONS option because no other SASRX option begins with the letter “O.” SASU is the minimum unique abbreviation for the SASUSER option because other options begin with the letters “SAS.” As a general rule, SAS system options cannot be abbreviated.