topic Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable in SAS Programming

SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

sfmeier — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:42:10 GMT

Hello!

I am trying to create a marco variable x, that countains numbers. However there are always leading blanks. As i want to use the macro variable later in a table name, it must not contain blanks. I found a solution to this Problem using %sysfunc. However, I am wondering: Is there an "easier" war to do that?

Thank you,

---------------------------------------------------------

/* kleinste Primzahl bestimmen */

title 'Primzahl';

proc sql;

select min(primzahl) INTO x

from temp;

/* Primzahl aus der Liste entfernen */

delete from temp

where primzahl=&x;

quit;

/* kleinste Primzahl formatieren */

%LET X = %sysfunc(cat(&x));

%put Primzahl = &x;

/* Quadrate mod x bestimmen */

data tempi;

do Basis = 1 to &x;

Quadrat_mod_&x = mod(Basis ** 2, &x);

output;

end;

run;

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

Keith — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:20:35 GMT

One way is simply to add the CAT function to the SQL statement

select cat(min(primzahl))

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

Haikuo — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:59:01 GMT

Thanks, Keith. That is a really neat way to use cat() or cats().

If going for the 'more' text-book style approach, OP can also try:

select left(put(min(primzahl),8.))

Regards,

Haikuo

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

sfmeier — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:01:16 GMT

Thank you, Keith! it works 🙂

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

sfmeier — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:02:25 GMT

Hello Hai.kou,

thank you very much for your help! is there any advantage to your code except for its textbookness? 😉

Regards, Stefan

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

Haikuo — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:31:37 GMT

I doubt that, as my approach involves one more function than Keith's. That being said, if you want to know the truth difference in term of efficiency, you probably need to benchmark it.

Regards,

Haikuo

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

Ksharp — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:15:37 GMT

select put(min(primzahl),32.-L))

%LET X = %left(&x);

Re: SELECT INTO numeric macro variable

ScottBass — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:40:31 GMT

A "trick" I learned a while back (via SAS-L) is to use "separated by". For a single numeric return value, it will strip leading and trailing blanks.

data one;

x=1;

run;

proc sql noprint;

select x into :mvar separated by " " from one;

quit;

%put *&mvar*;

HTH,

Scott