topic Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable in SAS Programming

Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:03:20 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to create a variable which will have value like "ABZ%ABZ". How can I create a variable which will contain this variable without the warning that Apparent invocation of macro ABZ nor resolved. Can somebody Guide?

Thanks,

Vinny

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

novinosrin — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:14:18 GMT

%let var=%nrstr(ABZ%ABZ);

%put &=var;

%put &=var;
VAR=ABZ%ABZ

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

RW9 — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:17:37 GMT

The question would be why? % is a macro trigger language, so its really not a good idea to put it in there, or you will just need to keep superquoting or wrapping it to make it work. I can guarentee there are better methods to achieve whatever your outcome is.

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:28:54 GMT

Thanks for your replies. Please check the shell Extract that I am supposed to present the data in with the expected naming. DO you think it's unreasonable? and why?

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:30:02 GMT

Thanks Novinosrin

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

RW9 — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:39:41 GMT

No, there is nothing wrong with the shell, these kind of summary statistics are something quite generic. However I have never put the statistic text in a macro variable. Take a means output:

proc means...;
  ...
  output out=stats n=n mean=mean stddev=stddev...;
run;

data want (keep=col1 ord trt1);
  set stats;
  length col1 trt1 $50;
  ord=1;
  col1="N";
  trt1=strip(put(n,best.));
  output;
  ord=2;
  col1="Mean (SD)";
  trt1=strip(put(mean,8.3))||" ("||strip(put(stddev,8.4))||")";
  output;
...
run;

Shows one simple manual datastep where values are transposed out into their correct pieces (formatted as text to get %'s and other symbols in), with the stats column being put in. You can simplify it a bit, and a lot of companies have macros to o these kind of things already.

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

andreas_lds — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:41:37 GMT

@VinnyR wrote:

Thanks for your replies. Please check the shell Extract that I am supposed to present the data in with the expected naming. DO you think it's unreasonable? and why?

Maybe it is to late, but why do you need that in a macro-variable? Please post more information, preferable not as attachments.

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:02:58 GMT

To produce text output, use a data step.

In a data step, you can easily take precautions against unwanted resolution of macro triggers.

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:04:08 GMT

I did use data step

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:04:38 GMT

Sorry, that was a mistake, rectified!

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:06:14 GMT

Then why do you store data in macro variables instead of a dataset or a text file?

@VinnyR wrote:
I did use data step

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:07:55 GMT

That was a mistake, I have edited the initial post

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

Tom — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:18:51 GMT

Use single quotes instead of double quotes. The macro processor does not resolve macro triggers inside of single quotes.

data ....;
  ...
  myvar =  'ABZ%ABZ';
  ....
run;

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

andreas_lds — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:19:39 GMT

Just use single instead of double/normal quotes.

Re: Incorporating "%" in SAS variable

VinnyR — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 17:05:19 GMT

Thanks all for your contributions.

Regards,

Vinny