topic Re: macro variable value in SAS Programming

macro variable value

VD — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:33:37 GMT

Hi,

I want to allocate this value to a macro variable but am getting an error message (using SAS EG 4.1):

%let WarnTxt1= Warning - This component has a low value of Cronbach's Alpha (less than 0.7);

I imagine this could be due to the length of the string and/or certain characters. Is there a way to make SAS accept this string?

The warning I am getting is " The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 characters long. You may have unbalanced quotation marks."

Thanks.

Message was edited by: Vikas Dhawan

Re: macro variable value

art297 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:50:42 GMT

You have to mask the quote. e.g.:

%let WarnTxt1= Warning - This component has a low value of %nrbquote(Cronbach's) Alpha (less than 0.7);

(Note: I originally had included the following comment: "That works on 9.3, but I seem to recall that macro variable names couldn't end with a number in older versions of SAS.". Too early in the morning! Character formats can't end in a number .. macro variables can).

Re: macro variable value

robby_beum — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:02:15 GMT

Try adding double quotes around the verbage...

%let WarnTxt1= "Warning - This component has a low value of Cronbach's Alpha (less than 0.7)";

Re: macro variable value

Ksharp — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:30:28 GMT

Arthur ,

I would like to use %str() which is designed for it.

%let WarnTxt1=%str(Warning - This component has a low value of Cronbach%'s Alpha %(less than 0.7%) );

%put WARNING: &warntxt1 ;

Ksharp

Re: macro variable value

DanielSantos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:43:48 GMT

Yes, the "mess" that is SAS macro quoting and the lack of obviousness that is choosing the right masking macro function.

First there was %NR/STR, than %NR/QUOTE, after that %NR/BQUOTE was introduced, and at last %SUPER...

And each one has one or more particular set of features, being:

- Compile time, and runtime execution:

Some operate at compile time, while the others only evaluate at runtime (nothing happens at compile time their treated as text).

- percent and ampersand masking:

Easy to identify, every* macro function starting with %NR will mask the % and & preventing the resolve of macro variables/functions.

- unmatched single quotes, double quotes and parentheses masking:

Actually all quoting functions are capable of masking unmatched single/double quotes and parentheses, but some mask them char by char while other do this by pair unless you explicitly identify the unmatched pairs prefixing the char with a percent sign (%).

Every* functions starting with the form %NRB* or %B* do not need to identify unmatched pairs.

* there's actually a macro quoting function that doesn't follow the rule, %SUPER, which (as the name says) is the super-mega-power-thing on macro quoting.

So with that, and knowing that %STR is a compile time function and %NRBQUOTE is a runtime one.

%STR will not mask percent and ampersand (no %NR prefix) and will require to identify unmatched pairs (no %B* prefix).

%NRBQUOTE will mask percent and ampersand (%NR prefix) and will not require to identify unmatched pairs (%NRB* prefix).

For your particular case, % and & masking is not need, and the moment of function evaluation is pretty much irrelevant (compile/runtime).

So, since you have a single unmatched quote, it's pretty much a matter of choosing If you want to identify it or not.

From there, you may choose one of three functions. %STR or %QUOTE, which both require the % before the single quote and differ only on execution time (compile/runtime). Or %BQUOTE, which will not require to identify the unmatched quote, and is evaluated at runtime.

All suggestions above are correct, as they will solve VD's single quote problem. That being said...

@Artur, %NRBQUOTE is actually more than it's needed as there is no & or % to mask, %BQUOTE is just enough.

@Ksharp, for %STR there is no need to mask matched pairs(), just the unmatched single quote.

Cheers from Portugal.

Daniel Santos @ www.cgd.pt

Re: macro variable value

VD — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:59:13 GMT

Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated!

%NRBQUOTE and %BQUOTE seem to work fine. But only in Base SAS (9.1). Somehow they are not working in EG(4.1) for me.

However I managed to make it work using use call symputx - perhaps not the most neat solution!

data _null_; set in1;

format Txt1 $76. ;

Txt1="Warning - This component has a low value of Cronbach's Alpha (less than 0.7)";

call symputx("WarnTxt1",Txt1);

end;

Cheers.

Re: macro variable value

Ksharp — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:54:00 GMT

@Daniel Santos

Yes. I know it too. just for the safe .

Ksharp

Re: macro variable value

Haikuo — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:31:04 GMT

Hi Daniel,

I really like your nutshell style of explantation. Those macro quote facilities are just as annoying to me.

Haikuo