topic Re: %NoData: in New SAS User

%NoData:

me888 — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 18:43:19 GMT

What is %NoData: for? I usually found it towards the end of the program. Is that a built-in macro? What is it ended with colon instead of semi-colon?

Re: %NoData:

SASKiwi — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 18:52:03 GMT

I've never heard of it before, and the colon could be just a mistype given it is on the same key as the semicolon. What happens when you run it?

Re: %NoData:

WarrenKuhfeld — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 18:53:52 GMT

It is a macro statement label. Perhaps there is a %goto that goes to it.

Re: %NoData:

me888 — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:05:59 GMT

It's located above the %mend, i think it's a built in code for handling no data, but i can't find a reference

Re: %NoData:

WarrenKuhfeld — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:08:07 GMT

Then I would guess someone copied it in from somewhere else but never used it.

Re: %NoData:

PaigeMiller — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:20:04 GMT

@me888 wrote:

It's located above the %mend, i think it's a built in code for handling no data, but i can't find a reference

There is no %GOTO anywhere in the code?

Re: %NoData:

me888 — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:38:15 GMT

There isn't any GOTO

Re: %NoData:

me888 — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:40:56 GMT

Here is one example of %NoData: being used ... This is not my code, I came across it while researching it online

%MACRO summary(__dset = ,

__var1 = ,

__var2 = ,

__ref = ,

__basevs = ,

__out = );

%LET __var1 = %UPCASE(&__var1);

%LET __var2 = %UPCASE(&__var2);

%IF %validate(__dset = &__dset ,

__var1 = &__var1 ,

__var2 = &__var2 ,

__ref = &__ref ,

__vars = &__basevs,

__out = &__out ) = 1 /*error found*/

%THEN %RETURN;

%split(__vars=&__basevs)

%makeset(__dset = &__dset ,

__var1 = &__var1 ,

__var2 = &__var2 ,

__class_vars = &__class_vars,

__continuous_vars = &__continuous_vars )

%ctab(__dset = __analysis_set,

__col_var = &__var1 ,

__row_var = &__var2 )

%logit(__test = Crude,

__dset = __analysis_set,

__response = &__var1,

__independent = &__var2,

__ref = &__ref )

%logit(__test = Adjusted,

__dset = __analysis_set,

__response = &__var1,

__independent = &__var2,

__ref = &__ref,

__class_vars = &__class_vars,

__continuous_vars = &__continuous_vars )

%summaryset(__base = &__out)

%nodata:

%MEND summary;

Re: %NoData:

WarrenKuhfeld — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:50:00 GMT

So it is an unused macro statement label.

I wrote a lot of long complicated macros in my day.

Each step was followed by a

%if disaster %then %goto abort;

followed by an %abort: macro statement label at the end that then tried to print some sensible message. In the psuedo code above, "disaster" might be operationalized as "&syserr > 4" or in a bunch of other ways.

Re: %NoData:

Quentin — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:57:36 GMT

Trust @WarrenKuhfeld . It's a %label statement.

The code was probably originally:

      %IF %validate(__dset = &__dset ,

               __var1 = &__var1 ,

               __var2 = &__var2 ,

               __ref  = &__ref  ,

               __vars = &__basevs,

               __out  = &__out  )  = 1 /*error found*/

       %THEN %GOTO NODATA;

And then someone changed to:

      %IF %validate(__dset = &__dset ,

               __var1 = &__var1 ,

               __var2 = &__var2 ,

               __ref  = &__ref  ,

               __vars = &__basevs,

               __out  = &__out  )  = 1 /*error found*/

       %THEN %RETURN;

And they didn't bother to get rid of the %label.

You can get rid of it if you want. Some people have the habit of always leaving it in the end of a macro definition, as an easy way to skip out of out the macro. This was probably common practice before there was a %RETURN statement, and old habits die hard.

Re: %NoData:

Tom — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 19:36:40 GMT

They probably replaced the %GOTO statement with the %RETURN statement.

So someone converted a nice STRUCTURED program that had its entry at the TOP and exit at the BOTTOM into a mangled mess that has two exits, one near the top and a second one at the bottom.

Re: %NoData:

WarrenKuhfeld — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 19:38:38 GMT

@Tom : Well said. It has long been fashionable to bad mouth gotos, but I would much rather have a program that has an entry at the top and ONE entry at the end, implemented with gotos. I never use gotos to otherwise jump around--well, almost never--but if disaster go to abort can be really handy.