topic Re: Execute macro even if no rows is selected in SAS Programming

Execute macro even if no rows is selected

David_Billa — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 10:40:18 GMT

When I try to execute the code below, I'm getting error stating that ,

ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order.
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference MAC_LIST not resolved.

Now I would like to execute the macro even when the macro MAC_LIST is not resolved. I don't want to see the error and also I want program to continue processing.

data &_OUTPUT.(keep= FLT_ID RUN_ID);
	set &_INPUT.;
        &mac_list.;
run;

Re: Execute macro even if no rows is selected

Patrick — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 10:48:46 GMT

You could ensure that the macro variable always exists, i.e. by adding the following before your datastep.

%global mac_list;

Re: Execute macro even if no rows is selected

David_Billa — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 10:54:18 GMT

Any other ways to solve the problem?

Re: Execute macro even if no rows is selected

Patrick — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:37:05 GMT

Not as simple as using a %global statement (or a %local statement within a macro definition).

If your code is within a SAS macro definition then you can also use %symexist as below:

/*%let mac_list= newvar=1;*/

%macro test();
  data sample;
    set sashelp.class;
    %if %symexist(mac_list) %then &mac_list; ;
  run;
%mend;
%test();

proc print data=sample;
run;

Re: Execute macro even if no rows is selected

Amir — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:33:05 GMT

Hi @David_Billa thanks for supplying the code and the error message, as it helps coming up with a solution.

If any of @Patrick 's responses works for you then please accept it (not my post) as the solution.

Thanks & kind regards,

Amir.