topic Search and edit .sas files in SAS Programming

Search and edit .sas files

Faruk — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:38:56 GMT

Hi,

We have over 2000 sas codes. What i want to do is like a text editor (example: ultraedit or pspad). Search in a directory where the sas files are, and search for a text (example rsubmit;) and delete this line and search further. And save the file.

I want to do this in a sas file. So i can run it every time for all sas code.

So just search an replace for files in a folder.

Is this possilbe and how?

Thanks.

Faruk

Re: Search and edit .sas files

PaigeMiller — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:50:24 GMT

I too would be interested in hearing if there is software designed to do this.

At the time, I wound up writing SAS code to do search and replace inside of *.sas files in a directory(s), and I must say it usually worked, but there were a few problems that I never anticipated and never figured out why they were happening.

Re: Search and edit .sas files

ballardw — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:38:41 GMT

Are you 100 percent sure that deleting the line will be sufficient?

I know that I often break single logical lines across physical lines when they are long. The lines, in my case are often complex table statements in proc tabulate, variable lists in array declarations, parameters for multiple parameter macros, ods or graphics options.

It could be that removing a single physical line would yield unworkable code, or at least that would yield unexpected results.

I suspect that your first step would be a reformatter that would create single physical lines to match the logical lines. After you get this it should be relatively easy. Comments in your code may make this a tad harder because of potential length of comment sections and different coding styles such as

/* a very long comment spanning several lines with

one ending comment indicator like this

and the

/* every line is commented separately like this */

* or the occasional line commented like this;

and the macro commenting .

Should comments involving your search term be removed?? Especially since they could contain other critical information.

Also, are you looking to replace the original file leaving no trace of your starting condition (probably a bad idea) or to copy the source to a safe location and then rewrite the modified code to the original location?

Re: Search and edit .sas files

Faruk — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:52:38 GMT

Hi,

Sometimes i want to delete a line and sometimes not. This depent to a text that i want to remove.

I just want to know how i can do this in sas. So that i also search for comment etcetera.

I dont want to replace the original file, i want to save it to another directorie where i promote the sas codes.

Re: Search and edit .sas files

Faruk — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:29:56 GMT

This is the macro that i have in ultraedit. I want the same in sas.

/*Gencodeconvert*/
InsertMode
ColumnModeOff
HexOff
UnixMacToDos
UltraEditReOn
Top
Find "/*****************************************************************************************/
/* end of proloog                                                                        */
/*****************************************************************************************/"
IfFound
StartSelect
SelectToTop
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
EndSelect
Delete
Top
StartSelect
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
Key DOWN ARROW
EndSelect
Delete
EndIf
Find "/*****************************************************************************************/
/* end of proloog                                                                        */
/*****************************************************************************************/"
IfFound
Delete
EndIf
Top
UltraEditReOn
Find "/************************************************************/
/* Job section: TRACKING EPILOG */
/* Origination: source.source.epiloog.source */"
IfFound
SelectToBottom
Delete
EndIf
PerlReOn
Top
Loop 0
IfEof
ExitLoop
Else
Find RegExp "(endrsubmit|rsubmit|%syslput|%sysrput|%let mainserv|options comamid=tcp|signon mainserv|%let syslast=|/* Name: |access the data for this step|execute the process for this step|/* generated: )"
IfFound
DeleteLine
Else
ExitLoop
EndIf
EndIf
EndLoop
Top
Loop 0
IfEof
ExitLoop
Else
Find "/************************************************************/"
IfFound
DeleteLine
Else
ExitLoop
EndIf
EndIf
EndIf
EndLoop
TrimTrailingSpaces
Save
CloseFile

/*Macroconvert */
IsertMode
ColumnModeOff
HexOff
UnixMacToDos
TrimTrailingSpaces
Top
PerlReOn
Loop 0
IfEof
ExitLoop
Else
Find RegExp "(endrsubmit|rsubmit|%syslput|%sysrput)"
IfFound
DeleteLine
Else
ExitLoop
EndIf
EndIf
EndLoop
Save
CloseFile