topic Can I clear my log at the end of each loop? in SAS Programming

Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

UniversitySas — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 01:00:41 GMT

I have the following macro:

%MACRO Loop_1;
	%DO i = 1 %TO 500 ;
		%Macro_first(&i);
	%END;
%MEND Loop_1;

The problem is that after a certain amount of loops, the log window becomes full and needs to be cleared before the code progresses.

I googled this, and found:

dm 'log;clear;';

But I can't seem to implement it.

If I put it outside the loop, it doesn't work (obviously).

If I put it in inside the loop, the "dm" stays black, so it seems that it's not registering properly as a SAS statement, and when I use

%dm, it's being read as a macro.

Any help is appreciated!

Re: Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 17:38:41 GMT

Don't do a clear. Use PROC PRINTTO to write the log to a file. If there is an error somewhere, then you can view the log in the file. If you do a clear, errors are gone.

Re: Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

SASKiwi — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 01:24:53 GMT

If your log is that big and it takes a considerable time to run then consider running your program as a batch SAS job then your log can grow as big as necessary.

Re: Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

Reeza — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 02:13:19 GMT

Turn off the output using NOPRINT when available and use 'option nonotes;' to only have errors and warnings printed to the log. As someone else indicated though, using BY group processing would fix this issue entirely.

Re: Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

ballardw — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 16:55:39 GMT

@UniversitySas wrote:

I have the following macro:

I googled this, and found:
dm 'log;clear;';
But I can't seem to implement it.

If I put it outside the loop, it doesn't work (obviously).

If I put it in inside the loop, the "dm" stays black, so it seems that it's not registering properly as a SAS statement, and when I use

%dm, it's being read as a macro.

Any help is appreciated!

The "DM" in " dm 'log; clear'; " refers to Display Manager, the SAS interface that is sometimes referred to as Base or Foundation SAS. So if you are working in SAS Studio, Enterprise Guide or Viya I would not expect that to work.

Re: Can I clear my log at the end of each loop?

ErikLund_Jensen — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 20:25:22 GMT

Hi @UniversitySas

You can route the log to a file with Proc Printto (or to "nowhere" by using the file name dummy) before you enter the loop. Remember to route it back to the log window after the loop:

* Disable logging;
filename mylog dummy;
proc printto log=mylog;
run;

* Useless macro generating long log;
%macro m;
	%do i = 1 %to 100;
		data test; 
			 a = 1;
		run;
	%end;
%mend;
%m;

* Enable logging;
proc printto;
run;