topic %scan only reads first character of macro array variable value in SAS Programming

%scan only reads first character of macro array variable value

Batman — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:04:47 GMT

The following code creates a macro array variable and then runs a macro that scans the array and outputs each variable in the log. However, the output is only the first numeric value. How can I get %scan to read each variable completely, including the characters and special characters.

%let sample=-1.0% -2.0% 0.0 1.0xAF 2.0xAF;

%macro test;

%do i = 1 %to 6;

%put %scan(&sample,&i);

%end;

%mend;

%test

Re: %scan only reads first character of macro array variable value

RW9 — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:13:00 GMT

Some starter for you:

1) Macro has no concept of array - this is datastep component

2) Read the documentation on %scan(), in particular the delimiter.

3) Ask yourself, if Base SAS - the programming language - provides the data constructs, processing power, and simple coding - why would you want to start trying to push this through a text replacement facility?

To correct your code (note I add dots after macro variables and semicolon to finish a line):

%let sample=-1.0% -2.0% 0.0 1.0xAF 2.0xAF;
%macro test;
  %do i=1 %to 6;
    %put %scan(&sample.,&i., );
  %end;
%mend;
 
%test;

The main change is I put a space as the third parameter to the %scan call.

Re: %scan only reads first character of macro array variable value

Batman — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:24:55 GMT

Your initial code just output the entire macro value not the individual array values (I accept SAS doesn't have really have macro arrays but I've seen write ups referring to them as such). However, it worked once I put ' ' as the delimiter. In reference to your last point, this was an excerpt of a larger program where the array values can vary depending on data steps previous to this one. In any case, thanks for your response.

Re: %scan only reads first character of macro array variable value

Astounding — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:30:49 GMT

I was surprised and happy to see that the @RW9 code worked for me, as is. Perhaps this is a recent addition, and only works in 9.4? Formerly, you would need to add the delimiter of:

%str( )

Note that using ' ' as the delimiter will use blanks as delimiters, but will also use single quotes as delimiters.