topic Re: SAS Macro in SAS Programming

SAS Macro

solo1947 — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 10:48:37 GMT

Hi all,

Can someone explain how does recursive macros work. As of my understanding a macro has to be defined before calling it so, how can we call a macro without defining it

Regards

Solo

Re: SAS Macro

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 10:51:12 GMT

During definition of a macro, no other macros are called, only the call statements are compiled. The call happens when the macro is executed, so you can have recursion.

Re: SAS Macro

solo1947 — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 11:02:03 GMT

Thanks for the quick reply Sir, appreciate it.

Re: SAS Macro

Tom — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 12:55:11 GMT

It is in the execution that recursion would occur. You always have to have defined the macro before you can execute it.

Remember that the name space for macros is flat. At any point in time there can only be one definition for macro X. So there is no nesting of macro definitions (recursive or not). The nesting occurs when the macros execute.