topic Mask special character "/" in SAS Programming

Mask special character "/"

AlexeyS — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 12:31:43 GMT

Hello, if I want to print to the log window the next sentence :

%put Today is 15/07/2018;

Why I don't need to add %nrbquote function?

"/" is one of the special characters in %nrbquote / %bquote / %str / %nrstr

http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/mcrolref/62978/HTML/default/viewer.htm#p06cx7fegzmzpen1m9991yljxiav.htm

Thank you

Re: Mask special character "/"

Astounding — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 13:04:29 GMT

The %PUT statement does not perform any math. So / does not trigger any actions on the part of macro language. In other contexts, you would need to use a quoting function. For example:

%if &d = 15/07/2018 %then %do;

%IF conditions always get %EVAL applied which would attempt to perform math. So in the context of a %IF statement you would need specially handling. There are a variety of ways to accomplish that, not just %nrbquote.

But to answer your original queston %PUT will always treat / as text so no function is needed.