noob question on %do alternatives

[thryce85]

I want to do a loop without having to go into a data step or write a macro.  I thought %do would work but it seems like I have to use that within a macro.  Are there any alternative to %do or am I stuck defining Macros and then calling them. Basically want to do this without annoyingly having to wrap it in a macro.   thanks 

%Macro Make_5 ;

%DO I = 1 %TO 5;

%put -------- D&I;
%END;

%Mend Make_5;

[data_null__]

This is a non-issue issue. Just go ahead and use the macro.

[AMSAS]

%do must be in a macro

The question is what are you attempting to do? All you are doing in the code is writing a message to the log 

---D1

---D2

...

I'm guessing you want to do something more than just that, so what do you want to do?

[thryce85]

just playing with it now .  but thinking more a long the lines of  using it along with %IF  %THEN %DO.  

sth slong the lines of .   Trying to learn data driven programming. 

%IF &SYSDAY=Friday %THEN %DO;

%do I=1 %to 5;

data d&i;

*some data junk;

run;

%end;

%END;

[AMSAS]

So ignoring the fact you are missing %MACRO/%MEND statements to define the macro
What you have here is some code to create 5 identical datasets called d1, d2, d3, d4 & d5

It's not the most efficient approach if creating 5 identical datasets is the goal, although it is an approach that will work.

[ChrisHemedinger · Accepted solution]

You can use conditional macro statements (%IF..%THEN...%ELSE) in open code, without a macro. However, loop iterations for a block of code does require a %macro/%mend block.

Don't overlook the DATA step iteration, which can be used to take an action for every observation in a data set. We often see people going straight to macro when actually a DATA step is more appropriate.

[thryce85]

thanks appreciate the help

[ballardw]

---

@thryce85 wrote:

I want to do a loop without having to go into a data step or write a macro.

To do what exactly?