topic Macro var value with *, how to handle? in SAS Programming

Macro var value with *, how to handle?

Macro — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 04:45:49 GMT

I have the following code segment:

%let alist=a.*;

%let blist=b.*;

%if (&alist=a.*) and (&blist=b.*) %then %do;

ERROR: A character operand was found in the %EVAL function or %IF condition where a numeric operand is required. The condition was:

(&alist=a.*) and (&blist=b.*)

Basically it is the * that caused the error. I would like to compare if alist value equal to a.* and blist value equal to b.*, how to achieve this without error?

Re: Macro var value with *, how to handle?

SASKiwi — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 04:58:12 GMT

One way is using %quote:

%if (%quote(&alist)=a.*) and (%quote(&blist)=b.*) %then %do;

Re: Macro var value with *, how to handle?

gergely_batho — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 07:51:55 GMT

I think you also need %quote() or %str() around the left side of = sign.

Re: Macro var value with *, how to handle?

Loko — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:00:39 GMT

Hello,

%macro a;

%let alist=a.*;
%let blist=b.*;

%if (%bquote(&alist)=%str(a.*)) and (%bquote(&blist)=%str(b.*)) %then %do;
%put TRUE;
%end;

%mend a;