topic Required operator not found in expression in macro statement in SAS Programming

Required operator not found in expression in macro statement

Stat_prevmed — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 23:11:45 GMT

I need this macro to repeat the data processing for each set of variable ending in 0,1,2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 13. I can getting the following error message Required operator not found in expression: &b. in (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13)

%macro life_events();
%let b=0; /*initializ counter*/

%do %while (&b <=13);
%put &b;
%if &b. in (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13) %then %do;

array event(18) evt1-evt18;
array evtorig[18] startne&b worktrb&b quitjob&b workloa&b prtunem&b moneypr&b
worsrel&b relaten&b seripro&b childmo&b respcar&b legalpr&b creldie&b
closdie&b selfvio&b famlvio&b physill&b majeven&b;
%do e = 1 %to 18;
event(e) = evtorig[e];
%if event(e) lt 0 %then event(e) = .;
%end;
array count(18) cnt1-cnt18;
array eventC[18] evt1-evt18;
%do c = 1 %to 18;
count(c) = eventC[c];
%if count(c) lt 2 %then count(c) = .;
%end;
EVNTNUM&b = (n(of cnt1-cnt18));
array very(18) vry1-vry18;
array eventV[18] evt1-evt18;
%do v = 1 %to 18;
very(v) = eventV[v];
%if very(v) lt 4 %then very(v) = .;
%end;
EVNTVRY&b = (n(of vry1-vry18));
EVNTCAT&b = evntvry&b.;
%if EVNTVRY&b ge 2 %then evntcat&b = 2;
NonMiss = n(of evt1-evt18);
%if NonMiss lt 14 %then %do;
EVNTNUM&b = .;
EVNTVRY&b = .;
EVNTCAT&b = .;
%end;

%end;
%let b=%sysevalf(&b+1); /*increment b*/
%end;
%mend life_events;

Re: Required operator not found in expression in macro statement

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 23:45:37 GMT

Ugh. You commit the (sadly common) cardinal sin of trying to handle data with the macro preprocessor, which is for creating dynamic code.

Since you already know how to define arrays, why don't you just use the necessary data step do loops to iterate through the arrays? As far as I can see it, there is absolutely no need for macro processing here.

Re: Required operator not found in expression in macro statement

Tom — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 01:00:24 GMT

What code are trying to have that macro generate?

I think you will have get error messages since it appears to be generating the same ARRAY multiple times.

Re: Required operator not found in expression in macro statement

Tom — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 01:11:11 GMT

If you want to use the word IN to be an operator in macro code you need to tell the macro processor that in advance.

%macro life_events() / minoperator mindelimiter=',' ;
...
%if &b. in 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13 %then %do;
...

But it is not needed in this case.

%do b=0 %to 13 ;
  %if not (&b=11 or &b=12) %then %do;
  ...
  %end;
%end;

Re: Required operator not found in expression in macro statement

Stat_prevmed — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:54:54 GMT

Thank you so much. This made the difference.