topic %global macro issue in SAS Programming

%global macro issue

nickspencer — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 21:34:56 GMT

Hi all,

I have the below portion of the code which works perfectly fine but when I put the whole code inside another macro it fails. The section of the code looks like this.

%macro check_duplicate;
%global dup_list;
if &dup_list= %then %do;
%let dup_list=‘99999’;
%end;
%mend check_duplicate;

%check_duplicate;

This above section was working fine on my code but then I had to make some changes and put the whole code inside another macro and I am getting this error.

ERROR: Attempt to %GLOBAL a name (DUP_LIST) which exists in a local environment.

How can I handle this error without making much changes to the structure of the code.

Any suggestions or ideas will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

Re: %global macro issue

Astounding — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 22:04:48 GMT

The problem is with the "other" macro that calls this macro.

That other macro is creating a local macro variable named DUP_LIST. Change the other macro so that it creates DUP_LIST as a global macro variable.

Re: %global macro issue

nickspencer — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 22:09:57 GMT

@Astounding I don’t think I understand when you say change other macro to create dup_list. Do you mean having the %global dup_list outside this check duplicate macro?

Re: %global macro issue

Astounding — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 22:16:31 GMT

That's an easy way.

The variable is somehow getting created by the "other" macro as well. So putting the %global statement outside of all macros should take care of the problem. Alternatively, you could search for other code that also creates DUP_LIST. But stick with the easy way if that sounds appropriate (add the %GLOBAL statement before running any macros).

Re: %global macro issue

Reeza — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 22:55:39 GMT

@nickspencer wrote:

This above section was working fine on my code but then I had to make some changes and put the whole code inside another macro and I am getting this error.

Are you saying you embedded your macro definitions? That's never a good idea.

%macro firstMacro ();

....


%macro secondMacro();
....

%mend secondMacro;

....
%mend firstMacro;

Re: %global macro issue

Tom — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 23:36:43 GMT

You cannot use %GLOBAL to define a macro variable in the GLOBAL scope if there is already a macro variable in another (local) scope with that same name.

Why do you want to make that macro variable as global to begin with? Is so the macro can return a value to the caller? Then just run the %GLOBAL statement when it is needed.

%if not %symexist(dup_list) %then %global dup_list;

If you are just using the macro variable as INPUT to the macro and it doesn't exist then just make a local macro variable instead. No use cluttering the global scope with unneeded macro variables, that is how you got into this trouble to begin with.

%if not %symexist(dup_list) %then %local dup_list;

Re: %global macro issue

ballardw — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 23:38:22 GMT

Here's an idea: Provide the entire code of both macros.

That will help us avoid a lot of "if you did this then …" guesses.