Once you have created
a format, you can reference it as you would reference a SAS format.
If you have stored the format in a location other than Work.Formats,
you must use the FMTSEARCH= system option to add the location to the
search path so that SAS can locate the format. It can be useful to
change the default FMTERR system option to NOFMTERR. Changing the
default system option enables SAS to substitute the w.
or $w. format and continue
processing if SAS does not find a format you reference.
You can permanently
associate a format with a variable by modifying the data set using
PROC DATASETS.