topic Re: Macro bug problem in SAS Programming

Macro bug problem

shawn123 — Fri, 01 May 2020 22:45:34 GMT

Hi guys. I have a bug problem I cannot fix, this is my code. productname is a macro variable "a b c d" and sqlobs is 4 in my case. My logic is using macro do loop and %scan function to scan the product name each time and output the data using proc report step. But when I run the data, nothing comes out. I don't know why?

data order;
input ordernumber$ product$ qrt;
cards;
##1 a 1000
##2 b 200
##3 c 3000
##4 d 200
;
run;

proc sql;
select distinct product into: productname separated by ' '
from order;
run;

%macro report;
%do i=1 %to &sqlobs;%macro a; %mend a;
%Let name=%scan(productname,&i,' ');

proc print data=order;
var ordernumber qrt; 
where Product="&name";
title '&name';
run;

%end;
%mend;
%report;

Re: Macro bug problem

PaigeMiller — Fri, 01 May 2020 22:51:08 GMT

Are there errors in the log?

Please put this command at the start of your program and then run it gain

options mprint symbolgen mlogic;

Then post the ENTIRE log, by clicking on the </> icon and paste the log as text into the window that appears. This maintains the formatting of the log and makes it much easier to read and understand . DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

Re: Macro bug problem

ballardw — Fri, 01 May 2020 22:57:40 GMT

First thing is you are not %scanning the macro variable. When you use this code

%Let name=%scan(productname,&i,' ');

You scan the literal text. To use the macro variable:

%Let name=%scan(&productname,&i,' ');

I have no idea what you intend with the

%macro a; %mend a;

but it is likely a poor idea. Recompiling macros inside another macro is one road to macro madness.

Your title will not render as desired because you have the macro variable inside single quotes in

title '&name';

Better practice would be to either place the Proc SQL inside the macro OR to make the Productname macro variable a parameter passed to the macro. Having macro variables appear in code without an obvious source can be difficult to debug later. And you don't actually need the SQLObs variable.

%do i=1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&productname));

will count the number of space delimited words in &productname and use that as the limit.

Re: Macro bug problem

shawn123 — Fri, 01 May 2020 23:05:01 GMT

Hi ballardw, thank you so much for the quick reply.
Adding %macro a; %mend a; will let the SAS highlight the function for you. Easy to read. But thank you so much for the alternative way. Learn form this!

Re: Macro bug problem

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 02 May 2020 06:27:40 GMT

You don't need any macro coding for this. Sort by product, and use proc report or proc print with

by product;