topic Re: Saving macro values in SAS Programming

Saving macro values

GKati — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:16:02 GMT

Dear All,

I am trying to save parameters as a macro:

data t0;
length Parameter $15;
input Parameter $ Estimate;
datalines;
Intercept 1132
;
run;

*store the estimated parameters;
data _null_;
 set t0;
 if Parameter = "Intercept" then 
 call symput('Ibar', Esimate);
run;

%put &Ibar;

I get the message that IBar was not saved properly:

SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable IBAR resolves to .

Why can"t I save the value?

Re: Saving macro values

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:25:01 GMT

Look at your second parameter of call symput. It's misspelled.

Re: Saving macro values

PaigeMiller — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:29:03 GMT

Is that exactly how you typed it, with many SAS commands on the same line?

Not only is this a bad practice, but I believe it is why the commands fail.

You need to put each command on it's own line

Furthermore the line that reads

Intercept 1132

should be on a line without a semicolon, and the semicolon that follows should be on the next line.

Then, you need to spell the variable name exactly the same in both the DATA T0; step, and in the DATA _NULL_; step.

Re: Saving macro values

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:31:39 GMT

Your corrected code, posted with the "little running man", looks like this:

data t0;
length Parameter $15;
input Parameter $ Estimate;
datalines;
Intercept 1132
;
run;

*store the estimated parameters;
data _null_;
set t0;
if Parameter = "Intercept" then call symput('Ibar', Estimate);
run;

%put &Ibar;

You can see the advantages of posting code in the right manner.

Re: Saving macro values

GKati — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:40:54 GMT

Thanks for the help. This was copy-pasted in the "running man" line by line as suggested below. I don't know why the display changed after posting.

Re: Saving macro values

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 15:23:41 GMT

Always post into the code windows while they are open (Pop-up). Posting into the field within the main posting window eats linefeeds.