The SAS windowing environment has numerous windows that you can use to complete tasks. You can enter commands to open windows. For more information about how to execute commands, see Using SAS Windowing Environment Command Types.

You can use window commands at any command prompt. You might find it helpful to use multiple window commands together.

For example, from the Log window, the following string of commands changes the active window, maximizes it, and changes the word paint to print:

pgm; zoom; change paint print

Window management commands enable you to access and use windows more efficiently. The following list includes the commands that you might use most often when managing windows:

Scrolling commands enable you to maneuver within text, and the command names indicate what they do. They include the following:

To set the automatic horizontal scrolling value to five character spaces, specify

hscroll 5

Now, when you execute the LEFT or RIGHT command, you move five character spaces in the appropriate direction. If you want to set the automatic vertical scrolling value to half a page, then specify

vscroll half

Then, when you execute the FORWARD command, half of the previous page remains on the display and half of a new page is scrolled into view.

If you need to scroll a specific number of lines forward or backward, then use the scroll amount on the FORWARD command to temporarily override the default scrolling value. You can specify scrolling values with the BACKWARD and FORWARD commands and the LEFT and RIGHT commands.

SAS gives you a simple way to customize your environment if your display supports color. You can change SAS windowing environment colors with the COLOR command. You can also change SAS code color schemes by using the SYNCONFIG command. To change windowing environment colors, simply specify the COLOR command followed by the field or window element that you want changed, and the desired color. You might also be able to change highlighting attributes, such as blinking and reverse video.

For example, to change the border of a window to red, specify

color border red

This changes the border to red.

Other available colors are blue, green, cyan, pink, yellow, white, black, magenta, gray, brown, and orange. If the color that you specify is not available, then SAS attempts to match the color to its closest counterpart.

Some color selections are valid only for certain windows.

For more information, see the online Help for the SASColor window. You can access the SASColor window with the SASCOLOR command.

You can also change the color scheme of text in the windows in which you enter code, such as the Editor window and NOTEPAD. This is useful, because you can make different elements of the SAS language appear in different colors, which makes it easier to parse code. To change the color scheme for code, use the SYNCONFIG command. The SYNCOLOR command toggles color coding off and on in these windows.

For more information about changing the color schemes for windows in which you create and edit code, see the online Help that is available when you issue the SYNCONFIG command.

Often, you might want to search for a character string and change it. You can locate the character string by specifying the FIND command and then the character string. Then the cursor moves to the first occurrence of the string that you want to locate. Remember to enclose a string in quotation marks if CAPS ON is in effect.

You can change a string by specifying the CHANGE command, then a space and the current character string, and then a space and the new character string. Remember to enclose in quotation marks any string that contains an embedded blank or special characters. For both the FIND and CHANGE commands, the character string can be any length.

With both the FIND and CHANGE commands, you can specify the following options to locate or change a particular occurrence of a string:

For details about which options you can use together, see SAS System Options: Reference. Note that the option ALL finds or changes all occurrences of the specified string. In the following example, all occurrences of host are changed to operating environment:

change host 'operating environment' all

To resume the search for a string that was previously specified with the FIND command, specify the RFIND command. To continue changing a string that was previously specified with the CHANGE command, specify the RCHANGE command. To find the previous occurrence of a string, specify the BFIND or FIND PREV command; you can use the PREFIX, SUFFIX, and WORD options with the BFIND command.

With the cut and paste facility, you can do the following:

You can manipulate and store text by using the following commands: