topic Re: using asterisk in system commands? in SAS Programming

using asterisk in system commands?

paulkaefer — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:27:03 GMT

I'm trying to write a macro function that will remove all files matching a pattern in a folder.

Here's what I've got so far:

%macro rm_bak(dir=);
    x rm "&dir./*.bak";
%mend;

This doesn't work because no files match the string literal ".../*.bak". However, if I remove the quotes, the *...; is treated as a comment (as expected). Is there a way to escape an *? I've tried %str, to no effect.

Re: using asterisk in system commands?

Reeza — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:33:53 GMT

Instead of X try SYSEXEC or CALL SYSTEM. I find I avoid quoting issues when using either of those instead of X.

Re: using asterisk in system commands?

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:46:16 GMT

Try this:

filename oscmd pipe "rm '&dir./*.bak' 2>&1";

data _null_;
infile oscmd;
input;
put _infile_;
run;

and inspect the log.

Re: using asterisk in system commands?

paulkaefer — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 16:29:32 GMT

Thanks for the prompt responses, @Reeza and @Kurt_Bremser!