Output Delivery System: The Basics and Beyond

Labeling and Formatting the Columns of the Results

If the variable you write with a DATA step to your ODS destination has a label, ODS uses the label as the variable's column heading. Similarly, if a format has been assigned to a variable, ODS writes the formatted values in the column. Variables in the data set TRAFFIC are labeled, and the previous example uses the variable labels for the four variables as column headers.

The previous behavior also holds true if you include ATTRIB, LABEL, or FORMAT statements in the same DATA step that creates the ODS report. The following DATA step uses an ATTRIB statement to override existing labels for two variables in the report and to apply format $HWYRT to the values of variable HIGHWAY. Format $HWYRT ...