How do I  locate the SAS temporary work directory? | SAS FAQ

Sometimes, you might need to know the path to the temporary work directory that SAS uses. There are at least two ways to do it.

First method is via point-and-click in Windows environment. Right click on the icon of work in SAS and choose “Property”.

The second method is to use SAS syntax.  For example,

proc options option = work;
run;

If you want to pass this information to a SAS program or what if we are not in Windows environment, here is how to do it via syntax. Notice that the code is not case-sensitive.

%put %sysfunc(getoption(work));

1    %put %sysfunc(getoption(work));
c:saswork_TD308

We can also create a macro variable to store the location for future use.

%let a = %sysfunc(getoption(work));
%put &a;

3    %let a = %sysfunc(getoption(work));
4    %put &a;
c:saswork_TD308

For more information on using sas macro function %sysfunc, visit SAS’s page on %SYSFUNC and %QSYSFUNC Functions