topic Re: Date macro from calculation in SAS Programming

Date macro from calculation

Zatere — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 16:58:01 GMT

Hello All,

I have the below program:

%let myDT = '23JAN2022'D;

%macro dts(mnth_1=);
	data want;
		test_dt=&mnth_1.;
		format test_dt date9.;
	run;

	%put @@@&myDT;
	%put @@@&mnth_1;
%mend;

%dts(mnth_1=intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's'));

Initially, I have the macro variable

&myDT.

which I pass it to the macro

%dts(mnth_1=intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's'))

in order to find last month's date.

Even though I am able to use the

&mnth_1.

in order to create the dataset, when I use the

%PUT

statement to write the value it doesn't work.

Any ideas please?

Re: Date macro from calculation

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 17:45:22 GMT

As a first step, please define what the purpose of the macro should be.

Re: Date macro from calculation

Zatere — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 17:58:12 GMT

The macro mnth_1=intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's') is used to create a variable in an existing dataset.
As you might have seen, this part of the program works as expected.
However, I would like to write the &mnth_1.
Is that possible?
Thanks.

Re: Date macro from calculation

PaigeMiller — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 19:38:17 GMT

I'm going to avoid the macro %dts and just create a macro variable named &dts.

%let dts=%nrstr(mnth_1=intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's'));
%put &=dts;

Then you can use &DTS anywhere you want. As to why you want this, I still don't understand, and I get the feeling you have over-complicated things.

You could also do this to create macro variable &MNTH_1

%let mnth1 = %sysfunc(intnx(month,&mydt,-1,s));

So, please explain in much more detail what you want, why you want it, and even better ... give us an example of what you are doing without macros and without macro variables. As I said, I think you have greatly over-complicated things.

Re: Date macro from calculation

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 20:38:12 GMT

mnth_1 is a macro parameter, not a macro. What is the purpose of the macro dts?

Re: Date macro from calculation

Tom — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 22:40:57 GMT

To print the value of a VARIABLE use the PUT statement. The %PUT statement is a MACRO STATEMENT and so will know nothing about any variables you might have created in your data step.

%macro dts(mnth_1=);

%put &=mnth_1;
data want;
  test_dt=&mnth_1.;
  format test_dt date9.;
  put test_dt = ;
run;

%mend;

Let's try it:

2106  %let myDT = '23JAN2022'D;
2107  %dts(mnth_1=intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's'));
MNTH_1=intnx('month', '23JAN2022'D, -1, 's')
MPRINT(DTS):   data want;
MPRINT(DTS):   test_dt=intnx('month', '23JAN2022'D, -1, 's');
MPRINT(DTS):   format test_dt date9.;
MPRINT(DTS):   put test_dt = ;
MPRINT(DTS):   run;

test_dt=23DEC2021
NOTE: The data set WORK.WANT has 1 observations and 1 variables.

Re: Date macro from calculation

andreas_lds — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 06:48:43 GMT

I don't see the need to use a macro at all. Why can't you use

mnth_1 = intnx('month', &myDT., -1, 's');

in a data step?

Re: Date macro from calculation

Zatere — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:37:22 GMT

Thank you very much.
I was hoping that I can use the %PUT statement.
However, your solution does what I wanted, meaning to print the value.