topic Re: how to solve macro variable in SAS Programming

how to solve macro variable

thanikondharish — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 09:11:13 GMT

%let e=""xyz"" ;
%put %substr(&e,3,2);

when I am executing above programming I am getting error like

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

Re: how to solve macro variable

AzizAA — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 09:35:17 GMT

You do not need the quotation marks around xyxz

The problem is that the range specified is out of bounds. Try this

%let e=xyz;
%put %substr(&e,2,1);

Re: how to solve macro variable

thanikondharish — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 10:18:36 GMT

Don't remove quotations

Re: how to solve macro variable

PaigeMiller — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 11:02:14 GMT

@thanikondharish wrote:
Don't remove quotations

meaning?

Re: how to solve macro variable

andreas_lds — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 11:03:31 GMT

@thanikondharish wrote:
Don't remove quotations

Quoting values when assigning macro-variables is a bad idea in most cases i have seen in the last decade. It is almost always better to use the quotes when you want the value of the variable inserted into sas code.

Re: how to solve macro variable

Astounding — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 11:54:04 GMT

First, figure out what you are working with. Try this test initially:

%put **&e**;

Re: how to solve macro variable

FreelanceReinh — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:46:17 GMT

Hello @thanikondharish,

Normally your code should work, as shown in the log below:

1    %let e=""xyz"";
2    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
xy

(Note that the four quotation marks got part of the macro variable value.)

So the error message is most likely the result of submitting different code before (see your log).

Examples include:

Missing semicolon after the %LET statement (see line 1 below). In this situation submit a single semicolon (line 3) to repair the damage. Then submit the %PUT statement again (line 4) and add the missing semicolon in the code.
```
1    %let e=""xyz""
2    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.
3    ;
4    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
xy
```

Unbalanced quotes in the %LET statement (see line 1 below). In this situation submit the missing quotation mark followed by a semicolon (line 3) to repair the damage. Then add the missing quotation mark in the code and submit both statements again (lines 4, 5).
```
1    %let e=""xyz";
2    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.
3    ";
4    %let e=""xyz"";
5    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
xy
```
Unbalanced quote(s) in the expression in the %PUT statement (after resolution, see line 2 below) and then trying to submit one or both of the statements again (line 3) because the %PUT statement "didn't work." In this situation, similar to the previous bullet point, submit a quotation mark followed by a semicolon (line 4) to repair the damage. Then submit the corrected %PUT statement so that it doesn't create an unprotected, unbalanced quotation mark (line 5 or line 6). The %QSUBSTR function (line 6) masks the quotation mark and thus avoids the problem.
```
1    %let e=""xyz"";
2    %put %substr(&e,1,1);
ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.
3    %put %substr(&e,1,1);
4    ";
";"
5    %put %substr(&e,3,2);
xy
6    %put %qsubstr(&e,1,1);
"
```