topic scanning macro which has a list of variables in SAS Programming

scanning macro which has a list of variables

pessi — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 11:01:21 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to scan a list of variables which are in a macro. When I did harcoding it is working fine and when I am extracting them from a proc sql select into, I am not getting expected result.

Success one(hardcode): It is perfectly giving output

%let type_list = %str("Hybrid","SUV","Sedan","Sports","Truck","Wagon");
%macro type_c;
%do i = 1 %to %sysfunc(count(&type_list.,%str(,))) +1;
%let type = %scan(&type_list.,&i.,',');
%put &i. is &type.;
%end;
%mend;
%type_c;

ISSUE:

proc sql;
select distinct quote(strip(type)) into :typ_list separated by "," from sashelp.cars;
quit;

%put &typ_list.;
%macro type_c2;
%do i = 1 %to %sysfunc(count((&typ_list.),%str(,))) +1;
%let type2 = %scan((&typ_list.),&i.,',');
%put &i. is &type2.;
%end;
%mend;

%type_c2;

This one is giving output

1 is ("Hybrid"

2 is "SUV"

3 is "Sedan"

4 is "Sports"

5 is "Truck"

6 is "Wagon")

the 1st one and 6th one are getting braces in their output which I don't want.

if I give statement by removing braces aroung &typ_lst. in scan function, I am getting error.

%let type2 = %scan(&typ_list.)&i.,',');

%scan and %sysfunc(scan) giving same result.

I want output of 1st and 6th one without braces like rest all.

Re: scanning macro which has a list of variables

PaigeMiller — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 11:23:06 GMT

Your code shows

%let type2 = %scan((&typ_list.),&i.,',');

and so when you put parentheses around &typ_list, this is just adding the text ( at the left and adding the text ) at the right of &typ_list, which then gives ("Hybrid","SUV","Sedan","Sports","Truck","Wagon") as the argument to the %SCAN function. So the %SCAN function finds the first text string as ("Hybrid"

I think what you want is this:

%let type2 = %scan(%bquote(&typ_list.),&i.,',');

The %quote masks the commas inside &typ_list so they are not used as a separator of different arguments to %SCAN, and the parentheses in %BQUOTE( ) are not interpreted as being added to the text string.

Re: scanning macro which has a list of variables

pessi — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 11:27:51 GMT

yes.. It worked.. Thanks @PaigeMiller.