topic Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning in SAS Programming

How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:30:29 GMT

Hi All,

I try to read multiple txt documents into SAS with number at beginning of documents name, like 1_apple, 2_pear, 3_peach... It can work if I import it one by one(code 1), but fails when in the macro(code 2).

code 1

data '1_Apple'n;
infile "/myaddress/1_Apple.txt" dsd dlm = ',';
input Number :$17.
Country :$18.;
run;

data in.'1_Apple'n;
set '1_Apple'n;
run;

code 2

%macro import(filename);
data &filename;
infile "/myaddress/&filename..txt" dsd dlm = ',';
input Number :$17.
Country :$18.;
run;

data in.&filename;
set &filename;
run;

%mend import;

%import(Apple_1);----------------------(It can work but the number is put at the end of document name)
%import(1_Apple);----------------------(ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a name, a quoted string, ;, CUROBS, END, INDSNAME, KEY, KEYRESET, KEYS, NOBS, OPEN, POINT, _DATA_, _LAST_, _NULL_.)
%import('1_Apple'n);-------------------(ERROR: Physical file does not exist, /myaddress/'1_Apple'n.txt.)

I wonder is there any method that I can name it with the number at the beginning?

Many thanks!

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

andreas_lds — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:35:58 GMT

As far as i know, macro variables must start with either letter or underscore, fortunately the ugly name literals don't exist in the macro-language.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Astounding — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:37:15 GMT

With slight changes to the macro, you should be able to get this version to work:

%import(1_Apple)

Change the last DATA step within the macro so it uses double quotes:

data in."&filename"n;
set "&filename"n;
run;

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:47:36 GMT

Didn't you notice the difference between your first code

data '1_Apple'n;

and the code the macro is generating?

data 1_Apple;

You just need to make the macro generate a name literal like your original code did.

data "&filename"n;

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:48:26 GMT

Thanks! But the result is still the same. (apple_1 can work but not 1_apple)

I believe the problem should be over there:

infile "/myaddress/&filename..txt" dsd dlm = ',';

&filename. cannot refer to 1_apple correctly.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:56:05 GMT

Thanks! I tried. But it will stop because there is no physical file in /myaddress/'1_apple'n.txt. It should be /myaddress/1_apple.txt

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 13:56:44 GMT

Ok.. Maybe I need to change the document name.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Astounding — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:07:18 GMT

Yes, it can. It does. Show the program you used and the macro call, and we can adjust it if needed.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:10:38 GMT

@jordenlam wrote:

Thanks! I tried. But it will stop because there is no physical file in /myaddress/'1_apple'n.txt. It should be /myaddress/1_apple.txt

Why did you change the way you were building the physical filename? There shouldn't have been any trouble with that.

%macro mymacro(file);

data "&file"n ;
   .... "/myaddress/&file..txt" ...
...
%mend;
%mymacro(1_apple)

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Reeza — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:12:51 GMT

I think perhaps you should change your requirements just slightly. The import file name is 1_apple but perhaps name your SAS datasets 1_apple? You can name them 1_apple but then you run into issues, so I highly recommend changing the name, which is easy enough. Are all your files the same format/type? Are they all in the same folder? If so, you can read them in a single data step. If this makes sense, please reply back and someone can help you with that code.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:16:38 GMT

Oh, that's because if I use 1_apple directly, the number "1" will be treated as a separate part with "_apple". You can see that the number "1" has turn out to be blue instead of black font.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:17:06 GMT

Right...

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:18:27 GMT

I just rename all the documents as apple_1 and it can work on my original code.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:22:42 GMT

In general it is probably not good to force the dataset name to match exactly the string used to build the physical filename. SAS names have many more restrictions than physical filenames have. In addition to the pain of having to use name literals when the names are non conforming there is a maximum of 32 characters for a name in SAS code.

Better to make your macro/process a little smarter.

For example your macro could use two input parameters. One to be used in finding the physical file and one to be used in naming the SAS dataset. You could even make the macro smart enough to try to use the physical file name in creating the dataset name.

%macro import(file,dataset);
%if 0=%length(&dataset) %then
 %let dataset=%sysfunc(nliteral(%qsysfunc(substrn(&file,1,32))))
;
data &dataset;
  infile "/top_leve_directory/&file..txt" ....
...
%mend import;

Then you can use it with a name for the dataset

%import(1_apple,apple1)

Or without

%import(1_apple)

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:25:15 GMT

@jordenlam wrote:

Oh, that's because if I use 1_apple directly, the number "1" will be treated as a separate part with "_apple". You can see that the number "1" has turn out to be blue instead of black font.

I am pretty sure that the SAS compiler is color blind.

The colors you see in your editor is just the editor trying to help you catch obvious typos or syntax errors. But the editor is NOT the SAS compiler so it will produce many strange colors on perfectly fine code.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:36:36 GMT

Thanks a lot! That's a good point.

But I rewrite a code and fix the dataset name but still has the same error.

%macro import(filename);
data apple1;
    infile "/myaddress/&filename..txt" dsd dlm = ',';
	input Number :$17.	
	      Country :$18.;
run;

data in.apple1;
    set apple1;
run;

%mend import;

%import(1_Apple);

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 14:54:01 GMT

I don't see any error. In fact I don't see any lines from your SAS log at all.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Reeza — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 15:22:09 GMT

Try this, if it doesn't work, please post the log from the code.

*debugging options for macro;
options mprint symbolgen;

%macro import(filename);

*fix name for data set;
data _null_;
p1 = scan("&filename", 1,"_");
p2 = scan("&filename", 2, "_");
new_name = catx("_", p2, p1);
call symputx('dsetname', new_name);
run;

*read in file and save to library;
data in.&dsetname;
    infile "/myaddress/&filename..txt" dsd dlm = ',';
	input Number :$17.	
	      Country :$18.;
run;


%mend import;

%import(1_Apple);

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

jordenlam — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 15:23:38 GMT

NOTE: Line generated by the macro variable "FILENAME".
26 1_Apple
___
22
200

ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a name, a quoted string, ;, CUROBS, END, INDSNAME, KEY, KEYRESET, KEYS,
NOBS, OPEN, POINT, _DATA_, _LAST_, _NULL_.

ERROR 200-322: The symbol is not recognized and will be ignored.

Re: How to resolve a macro variable with number at beginning

Tom — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 16:01:59 GMT

Not enough of the log to tell what the error is talking about.

Make sure to turn on the MPRINT option before running the macro so the log will show the code that the macro generated.