topic Re: Symput in function in SAS Programming

Symput in function

paulsparrow — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:12:01 GMT

I am trying to create a macro shortcut for use in a function.

DATA _null_ ;
CALL symput('num','1234567890');
RUN ;

Then later do this:
xxx = INDEX(city,&num.) ;

The code is not picking up the macro assignement. Any help?

Re: Symput in function

paulsparrow — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:21:52 GMT

My bad. Needed INDEXC()

Re: Symput in function

sbb — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:35:59 GMT

The SAS 9 (introduced) function ANYDIGIT may also work for you - with my test as compared to INDEXC, it was twice as fast over a large DO/END loop on Windows OS.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

Re: Symput in function

DanielSantos — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:22:32 GMT

Try replacing:

INDEX(city,&num)

with:

INDEX(city,symget('num'))

You should also consider Scott's suggestions, ANYDIGIT might do the trick in a much simpler way.

Cheers from Portugal.

Daniel Santos @ www.cgd.pt

Re: Symput in function

sbb — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:27:09 GMT

I believe the use of INDEX function is not equivalent to either INDEXC or ANYDIGIT. Also, if the OP was to use INDEX, the second argument must be character, so it would need to be enclosed in double-quotation marks to work properly.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.