topic Re: Pass datstep variable to X command in SAS Programming

Pass datstep variable to X command

Sandy10 — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 05:50:59 GMT

Below is the code i am using . I want to execute a job using X command in a datastep.

Path and Extn are macro variables. jobname is a datastep variable(from check dataset)

jobname is a variable which contains list of jobnames (like J_ABC,J_DEF etc) These are located under a mentioned location and extension is sh.Purpose is to execute those jobs using X command.

data _null_;

set check;

%let path=/app/scripts_p2/jobs;
%let extn=sh;

x "&path/jobname.&extn";

Kindly advise

Its getting retrieved as

/bin/ksh: /app/scripts_p2/jobs/jobname.sh: not found

Thanks,
Sandhya S

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Shmuel — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 05:36:14 GMT

1) Have checked that /app/scripts_p2/jobs/jobname.sh file realy exist ?

2) Is the file executable ? - check unix permissions: user's and group's permission.

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Sandy10 — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 05:50:11 GMT

Hi Shumel. Ok, I think my post is not clear. jobname is a variable which contains list of jobnames (like J_ABC,J_DEF etc) These are located under a mentioned location and extension is sh.

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Shmuel — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 05:56:08 GMT

Then of course it cannot work as the result has unix sytax error:

/app/scripts_p2/jobs/ J_ABC,J_DEF.sh

You need to execute each job separatly.

Use SCAN funtion in a loop and execute the jobs one by one.

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Reeza — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:25:24 GMT

Within a data step, Build a string variable that has the code you want to execute, not Including the X. You can use the CATT function with macro variables and data step variables. Then use CALL SYSTEM to have it executed.

Data demo;
Set SASHELP.class;
Str = catt('string1', ....., “&path1.”, job);
*Call system(Str);
Run;

Untested.

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Reeza — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:26:04 GMT

@Sandy10 wrote:

Hi

Below is the code i am using . I want to execute a job using X command in a datastep.

Path and Extn are macro variables. jobname is a datastep variable(from check dataset)

jobname is a variable which contains list of jobnames (like J_ABC,J_DEF etc) These are located under a mentioned location and extension is sh.Purpose is to execute those jobs using X command.

data _null_;

set check;

%let path=/app/scripts_p2/jobs;
%let extn=sh;

x "&path/jobname.&extn";

Kindly advise

Its getting retrieved as

/bin/ksh: /app/scripts_p2/jobs/jobname.sh: not found

Thanks,
Sandhya S

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

PSNn — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 07:35:04 GMT

The X-statement is a "global" command that is not part of the datastep. You cannot get this to work. To do this you have to use the system function or Call routine.
Like rc = system( cats("&path/",jobname,".&extn") );

Re: Pass datstep variable to X command

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 09:11:20 GMT

This code

data _null_;

set check;

%let path=/app/scripts_p2/jobs;
%let extn=sh;

 

 x "&path/jobname.&extn";

cant't work because X is a global statement that is executed as soon as it is encountered in the program text, so it will ALWAYS resolve to

x "/app/scripts_p2/jobs/jobname.sh";

with "jobname" being a literal. Use call system() instead, which is a data step subroutine:

%let path=/app/scripts_p2/jobs;
%let extn=sh;

data _null_;
set check;
call system("&path./" !! trim(jobname !! ".&extn.");
run;

Also note that it makes your code easier to grok when the macro statements are placed before the data step, because that is the order in which they are executed anyway.