GOPTIONS Statement

The first statement to enter contains your choice of options which will 
affect the visual layout and formatting of the graph. The GOPTIONS 
statement applies your choices of graphical options to the graphs you 
produce. It performs tasks similar to the OPTIONS statement for results 
printed to the output window. GOPTIONS can be located anywhere within your 
SAS command file; however, it should typically be placed directly before 
the optional graphical statements (such as AXIS and SYMBOL) and the GPLOT 
procedure for which the particular options are needed in order for them to 
be applied to the specific graph.

Most options can be listed in any order in a GOPTIONS statement. One 
notable exception is the RESET= option that restores all graphical options 
to their default values. Always place it as the first option immediately 
following the GOPTIONS keyword.

Graphical options are cumulative. When you enter additional options in 
another GOPTIONS statement, the values of options already selected remain 
in effect.  They remain in effect until you explicitly change them, choose 
the RESET= option, or exit SAS. When you begin a new session all options 
are set to their default values.

To reset a specific option to its default value without entering RESET=, 
submit the name of the option without a value after the = sign (i.e., a 
null graphics option) such as Htext= or Ftext= in the GOPTIONS statement.

The following GOPTIONS statement resets all graphic options to their 
default values and then specifies several desired features of a graph 
including text font, units of measurement, and background color of white 
(dark is the default which is hard to view):

GOPTIONS Reset=all gunit=pct FTEXT=swissb ROTATE=landscape
         Htitle=3 htext=3 CBACK=white ctext=black PAPERSIZE=(11,8.5) ;

This statement is often needed, that is, it is a good idea to start with 
refreshed options whenever making a new graph. Rather than laboriously 
type it everytime, you can store it as a macro which is set when SAS 
begins and then invoke it when needed. To do so, enter this command in 
your autoexec.sas file (See Section 1.5).

%MACRO grst;
GOPTIONS reset=all gunit=pct FTEXT=swissb ROTATE=landscape
         htitle=3 htext=3 CBACK=white ctext=black PAPERSIZE=(11,8.5) ;
%MEND grst;

To run the macro, merely enter

%grst

as described in Section 9.


Other Destinations for Graphical Output

Among several destinations, you can send the graphical output to a pdf or 
a gif file with a FILENAME statement with the following goptions:

* for a pdf file;

GOPTIONS Dervice=pdf GSFNAME=stat2 GSFLEN=132 GSFMODE=REPLACE;
FILENAME stat2 'c:\sas\diffs_graph1.pdf';

* for a gif file;

GOPTIONS DEVICE=gif gsfname=plot GSFMODE=REPLACE;
FILENAME plot "c:\sas\diffs_grph.gif";




The graphical options available on the GOPTIONS statement are explained in 
the Graphics Options and Device Parameters Dictionary. Online resources 
provide descriptions of which options are available and how to apply them. 
You can find one of them at:

http://sas.uoregon.edu/sashtml/gref/z0713550.htm