| Basics | |
|---|---|
| store values for macro variables | %LET <variable> = <value>; |
| print text to log print macro variable print all system macro variables print all user macro variables print all available macro variables | %PUT <text> %PUT &<macro variable> ; %PUT _AUTOMATIC_ ; %PUT _USER_ ; %PUT _ALL_ ; |
| Macro without parameters Macro with positional parameters Macro with defaults (other than missing possible) | %MACRO <name>; %MEND [<name>]; %MACRO <name> (<param1>); %MEND [<name>]; %MACRO <name> (<param1>=<value1>); %MEND [<name>]; |
| Working with Macro Variables | |
|---|---|
| Loop through macro variable list | %LET list = green pink blue; %DO i = 1 %TO %SYSFUNC(COUNTW(&list)); %PUT %SCAN(list,&i); %END; |
| Access variables through variable contents | %LET var1 = green; %LET var2 = pink; %LET var3 = blue; %DO i=1 %TO 3; %PUT &&var&i; %END; |
| Work with Macro variables within data step, e.g. to avoid quoting issues | %LET var = value; DATA test; LENGTH var $200.; Var = SYMGET(var); Var = TRIM(var) || “2”; CALL SYMPUT(‘var’,value2); RUN; |
Common Functions
| String Functions | |
|---|---|
| %INDEX(source, string) | Search source for string, returns position |
| %SCAN(source, position, delimiter) %PUT %SCAN(green pink blue, -1); | Search for a word that is specified by its position in a string. Example prints blue. |
| %LENGTH(<variable>) | Returns length of variable – also “0” for empty variables |
| %SUBSTR(source, position [, length]) | Returns string parts. |
| %CMPRES(<text>) | Compress spaces to one space (COMPBL) |
| %UPCASE / %LOWCASE | Upper / lower case |
| Arithmetic Functions | |
|---|---|
| %EVAL(…) | Performs integer calculations |
| %SYSEVALF(…) | Performs floating-point arithmetic |
| Other Functions | |
|---|---|
| %DATATYP(…) %DATATYP(15.8) will return “NUMERIC” | Returns “CHAR” or “NUMERIC” |
| %VERIFY %VERIFY(0&numer,0123456789) will return > 0 if &number is not an integer | Returns first char unique to an expression |
| Specific Functions | |
|---|---|
| BEEP tone , e.g. to recognize when a long run SAS program finishes | DATA _null_; CALL SOUND (100,200); CALL SOUND (200,200); RUN; |
| Use of PARMBUFF, e.g. to avoid SAS errors when parameters has been mistyped or flexible parameter names should be used. Example for initializing unknown macro systems via parameters: CSS Paper 2009 – User friendly management of continuously improving standard macro systems | %macro test /parmbuff; %PUT syspbuff=&syspbuff; %mend; %sales (parm1 = 1, parm2 = 0); Log output: syspbuff=(parm1 = 1, parm2 = 0) |
| Sometimes FILES needs to be modified. Positioning according leading spaces can be used. | DATA _NULL_; INFILE "c:\test1.txt" lrecl=100 END=eof TRUNCOVER; FILE "c:\test2.txt" lrecl=100; INPUT; text = _INFILE_; i=LENGTH(text)-LENGTH(LEFT(text)); PUT @i text; RUN; |
| When the work area should be cleaned completely, then also global macro variables can be deleted with the SYMDEL function. | Data _temp; Set sashelp.vmacro; Where scope=’GLOBAL’; RUN; DATA _null_; Set _temp; Call symdel(name); Run; |