topic Re: macro variable in SAS Programming

macro variable

clqa — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 16:49:03 GMT

why couldnt i have just done age=13 instead of age=&age? what is the purpose of macro variables?

Re: macro variable

PaigeMiller — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 17:05:02 GMT

In this trivial example, the macro variable does nothing that you couldn't do better without the macro variable.

In other examples, macro variables allow code to be dynamic, and change as needed without the human programmer having to re-write or re-code large portions of text.

Re: macro variable

data_null__ — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 17:05:58 GMT

@clqa wrote:

why couldnt i have just done age=13 instead of age=&age? what is the purpose of macro variables?

The purpose of macro variables is character substitution.

Re: macro variable

bobpep212 — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 17:44:36 GMT

Think about a bigger program where you have to reference age in lots of places. In this example, it references age in 2 spots. Using a macro variable instead means if you need to change the age, you only need to do it in one location. It also prevents you from accidentally not updating the age in one of the locations in your code.

Re: macro variable

Reeza — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 00:14:59 GMT

There is always more than one way to do something.

What happens when you want to do it for each age in the data?

@clqa wrote:

why couldnt i have just done age=13 instead of age=&age? what is the purpose of macro variables?