topic macrovariable containing the name of another macrovariable in SAS Programming

macrovariable containing the name of another macrovariable

gamotte — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:39:57 GMT

Hello,

%let X=5;

%let Y=X;

Can I recover the value 5 from the macrovariable Y ?

I thought &&Y.. would do the trick but it resolves to "X."

Thanks

gamotte — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:45:03 GMT

OK, I have found the answer : add a third ampersand

%put &&&Y..;

I just don't understand the logic behind this.

LinusH — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:46:01 GMT

Can be done, how depends on your application.

Simplest:

%let X=5;

%let Y=&X.;

LinusH — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:48:47 GMT

The macro compiler removes duplicate &, "pairwise". In your case:

&& resolves to &.

&Y resolves to X.

Leaving &X, which resolves to 5.

gamotte — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:53:42 GMT

Ok, that makes more sense now.

Thanks