topic Re: SUSPICIOUS * in SAS Programming

SUSPICIOUS *

HeatherNewton — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 08:24:29 GMT

PROC SQL NOPRINT;
CREATE TABLE PERF_ACCT AS
SELECT DISTINCT ORG_CODE, ACCOUNT_NO, LOGO, DATE_CARD_OPENED, BLOCK_CODE_1
FROM CREDIT_CARD;

*WHERE EFF_FROM_DATE<="&PERF_END"D
AND (EFF_TO_DATE>"&PERF_END"D OR EFF_TO_DATE=.);
QUIT;

generally I know that * means commenting a statement, however, here I am suspicious. Could you take a look and confirm for me if where statement above is commented and what about the line starting with AND ..., is it also commented when it is on the next line?

Re: SUSPICIOUS *

LinusH — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 09:23:49 GMT

Why don't you run the code and see?

Re: SUSPICIOUS *

Oligolas — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 10:08:24 GMT

Minimize the question to its simplest form and perform a test run:

proc sql;
   select *
   from sashelp.class
   ;
   *where 1 eq 2
   and 2 eq 3;
quit;

Re: SUSPICIOUS *

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 10:27:00 GMT

Line breaks have no effect on where a statement begins or ends; statements start where the previous statement ended, and end with a semicolon.

Re: SUSPICIOUS *

ballardw — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:42:10 GMT

Since you are showing code with macro variables there is a question about is this step in the middle of a macro (%macro/%mend; code block) or not.

You can get odd results using statement comments inside macros depending on your intent.