topic Re: %Let from a Value in a table in SAS Programming

%Let from a Value in a table

vicmaria98 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:51:51 GMT

I currently have code with a bunch of %let statements which are then used to do calculations with my data. My goal is to create a macro that reads in a sas table and changes those %let value statements. Is there a way to assign %let to variable values in a table?

Re: %Let from a Value in a table

sbxkoenk — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:59:58 GMT

Run the below code to learn about an alternative:

data _NULL_;
 set sashelp.class;
 call symputx('NAME'!!strip(put(_N_,8.)),name);
run;
%PUT &=NAME1;
%PUT &=NAME2;
%PUT &=NAME3;
%PUT &=NAME19;

Cheers,

Koen

Re: %Let from a Value in a table

Reeza — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 18:42:34 GMT

%LET creates macro variables.

There are many other ways to create macro variables from tables - CALL SYMPUTX() or PROC SQL are two ways.

So let's look at creating macro variables for all the names in the CLASS data set, with a data step and a macro.

proc sql noprint;
select name into :sql_name1-
from sashelp.class;
quit;

%put &sql_name1.;
%put &sql_name19.;

And via data step:

data _null_;
*for debugging;
*data demo;
set sashelp.class;

macro_variable_name = catt('dataStep_name', put(_n_, 2. -l));

call symputx(macro_variable_name, name);

run;

%put &dataStep_name1;
%put &dataStep_name19.;

@vicmaria98 wrote:
I currently have code with a bunch of %let statements which are then used to do calculations with my data. My goal is to create a macro that reads in a sas table and changes those %let value statements. Is there a way to assign %let to variable values in a table?

Re: %Let from a Value in a table

PaigeMiller — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 21:08:48 GMT

I currently have code with a bunch of %let statements which are then used to do calculations with my data.

It's much easier to do calculations in a DATA step than in macro variables.

My goal is to create a macro that reads in a sas table and changes those %let value statements. Is there a way to assign %let to variable values in a table?

So your data is in a SAS "table", do the calculations in a DATA step. Much much easier. Macros are likely unnecessary.

Why do you think macro variables will help here?

Re: %Let from a Value in a table

andreas_lds — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 07:09:05 GMT

Moving data into macro-variables for calculations is a bad idea in approximately 100% times. So please tell us what you are trying to. I am sure, that a solution can be developed that allows the data to stay in its natural living space.