topic Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ? in SAS Programming

Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Phil_NZ — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 22:13:12 GMT

Hi all SAS Users,

Normally SAS supports a few hotkeys for us to deal with coding conveniently. For example, if we want to comment the selection with line comments, we can use 'Ctr+/"

For example:

/*Before hotkey*/

abcdef

/*After hotkey Ctr+ / */

/*abcdef*/

I also google some other useful hotket as the link here.

However, I try to find a hotket that can put words into single quotation marks. In detail

/*Before hotkey*/

abcdef

/*I try to find a hotkey to generate this result */

'abcdef'

I try to simplify my work and learn as much as I can 😄

Warmest regards.

P/S: I did a search but it seems to me that there is no hotkey so far for doing so, need a macro as the link here.

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Tom — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 22:25:08 GMT

It really depends what editor you are using. Are you using one of the many SAS interfaces to edit with? Which one?

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

FreelanceReinh — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 23:37:37 GMT

Hi @Phil_NZ,

If you're using the traditional Display Manager interface with the Enhanced Editor, it's fairly easy to create a keyboard macro for this purpose and assign a hotkey. I've just done this, following the general instructions of this 2018 post. Actually, I've created two macros:

Put current word into single quotes (i.e., place the cursor inside or immediately after the word, then hit shortcut key):

Put selected text (may include several words) into single quotes:

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Phil_NZ — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 04:24:02 GMT

Hi @Tom

I am using SAS EG. It is my interface

Warm regards.

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Phil_NZ — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 04:58:20 GMT

Hi @FreelanceReinh

It is what I have now with my interface...

Sorry for the blur of the pictures but I took it by my phone.

As we can see, there is no option called "Keyboard macro".

Warmest regards.

UPDATE:

I just have a look and do some Google search, and then I figure out that it works in SAS Base while I am using SAS EG, so is there any reasonable solution for SAS EG please ?

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

andreas_lds — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:34:44 GMT

Those macros will work in EG:

While in a program, open Program | Manage Macros and Snippets then click on Create to open a window looking like those in screenshots posted by @FreelanceReinh.

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

andreas_lds — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:52:45 GMT

Well, this is interesting, some commands don't work at all, "insert char" is one of those.

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Phil_NZ — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:58:01 GMT

@andreas_lds

Thank you for pointing this awesome point.

Even I assign and test successfully, however, I have something in my mind as below:

In my interface, it will not display totally like the Table that @FreelanceReinh shows, my interface displayed like that

First, the three single quotations are a little bit weird, why it is 3 sngle quotations?

Second, it is super hard to type a character in the "Insert character" box, do you face the same problem?

Third, It displays "Move caret..." rather than "Move curse...", easy to confuse other users.

Warm regards.

Re: Hotkey to put words into single quotation quickly ?

Phil_NZ — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:59:09 GMT

@andreas_lds

Lol, I try to push the single quote a lot of time until it works.....seems to be a bug or the like.