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Invoking SAS

In order to invoke SAS, you will need to ask your system manager what the SAS command (the command that invokes SAS) is at your site. The SAS command executes a CMS EXEC that was written in the Restructured Extended Executor (REXX) language by SAS Institute. It is not documented in any IBM manual.

At many sites, the SAS command is simply SAS, but a different command may have been defined during the SAS installation process at your site.

Note:    The examples in this book all use SAS as the SAS command.  

The SAS command starts a windowing environment session, an interactive line mode session, or a noninteractive session, depending on the default mode of operation that has been specified for your site. To override the default mode of running SAS, you use commands similar to those shown in Commands for Invoking SAS . (Again, the exact commands that you use may be site-specific.)

See Specifying System Options in the SAS Command for additional information about the SAS command.

Commands for Invoking SAS

Mode	How to Invoke	How to Terminate	Description
Windowing Environment	sas(dms	bye or endsas	enables you to write and execute SAS programs and to view the SAS log and SAS procedure output in an interactive windowing environment. If it is the default at your site, then you can invoke it by entering sas with no options. For more information about the windowing environment, see help for base SAS.
interactive line mode	sas(nodms	/* or endsas; statement	prompts you to enter SAS statements at your terminal, one line at a time. This mode is convenient for many applications on a line-mode terminal. For more information about interactive line mode, see help for base SAS.
noninteractive mode	sas myprog	n/a	executes under interactive CMS, but it is called noninteractive because the program runs with no intervention from the terminal. Noninteractive mode is useful for running programs repeatedly or for running programs that have already been debugged. See help for base SAS for additional information.
batch	n/a	n/a	is typically used for SAS programs that take a long time to run, particularly if those programs are executed on a regular basis. See Using SAS in Batch Mode for details.

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