topic Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel in SAS Programming

NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS release

Toni2 — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:22:29 GMT

hi i get the below error and but i am not sure how i can fix it

Note : i have amended some elements - i hope does not cause confusion

  ;*';*";*/;quit;run;
2          OPTIONS PAGENO=MIN;
3          %LET _CLIENTTASKLABEL='1000 - sampling';
4          %LET _CLIENTPROCESSFLOWNAME='SAMPLING EXECUTING';
5          %LET _CLIENTPROJECTPATH='\\my_drive_location\03 Projects\2021 11 - File
5        ! 2\1Sampling Approach\Codes\Sampling.egp';
6          %LET _CLIENTPROJECTPATHHOST='***********';
7          %LET _CLIENTPROJECTNAME='Sampling.egp';
8          %LET _SASPROGRAMFILE='';
9          %LET _SASPROGRAMFILEHOST='';
10         
11         ODS _ALL_ CLOSE;
12         OPTIONS DEV=ACTIVEX;

           _________________________________
           49
NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS release.  Inserting white space 
             between a quoted string and the succeeding identifier is recommended.

13         GOPTIONS XPIXELS=0 YPIXELS=0;
14         FILENAME EGSR TEMP;
15         ODS tagsets.sasreport13(ID=EGSR) FILE=EGSR
16             STYLE=HTMLBlue
17             STYLESHEET=(URL="file:///C:/Program%20Files/SASHome/SASEnterpriseGuide/7.1/Styles/HTMLBlue.css")
17             STYLESHEET=(URL="file:///C:/Program%20Files/SASHome/SASEnterpriseGuide/7.1/Styles/HTMLBlue.css"

___________________________________________________________________________________________                                         
                                                                                                             49
17       ! )
NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS release.  Inserting white space 
             between a quoted string and the succeeding identifier is recommended.

18             NOGTITLE
19             NOGFOOTNOTE
20             GPATH=&sasworklocation
21             ENCODING=UTF8
22             options(rolap="on")
23         ;
24         
25         GOPTIONS ACCESSIBLE;
26         %macro sample_calc(monthid);
27         %month_mvars(monthid=&monthid.);
28         
29         %put monthid:&monthid.;
30         %put monthid_yymm:&monthid_yymm.;
31         %put monthid_date9:&monthid_date9.;

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Reeza — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:29:26 GMT

The error has nothing to do with your code, it has to do with the SAS code that runs at start up. You can ignore this message though it's annoying for sure.

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Toni2 — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:33:13 GMT

thanks for your immediate response. However, i can't ignore it as SAS stops running...

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Tom — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:44:13 GMT

You appear to be using type of front end to SAS that is submitting that code.

What front end tool are you using? SAS/Studio? Enterprise Guide? Something else?

What happens when you start a new SAS session? Do you still get the NOTE? Or does it only appear after you have submitted some code? Do you have an AUTOEXEC file you are using? Is the code in that file valid?

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Toni2 — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 15:51:12 GMT

i use Enterprise Guide.

No, i just restarted SAS and run a different code with no errors at all

You are correct, this error only appears when i execute a specific macro

Yes, i use autoexec file which i guess its code is valid

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Tom — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 17:15:43 GMT

Your program is generating unbalanced quotes. It looks like SAS it not really detecting that until you submit the next block of code.

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 06:31:12 GMT

Did you only run the macro definition, or did you actually call the macro?

Is the definition properly terminated with a valid %MEND statement?

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Ksharp — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 11:18:33 GMT

options noquotelenmax ;

Try this option :

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Toni2 — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:09:56 GMT

there are multiple macros which are called and executed. I checked all of them have %mend. Not sure how to locate the one which causes the issue here

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Toni2 — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:10:14 GMT

tried but still get the same error

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Tom — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:21:12 GMT

You should be able to tell where it has gotten off track because it should stop actually running the code you expect the macro to generate.

Look for places where it is putting text into macro variables from data. That is the easiest way to get unquoted text into code.
Look for places where it is using unbalanced quotes in statement style comments.

This comment works in open code:

* Don't use unbalanced quotes in comments ;

But once you put that statement into a macro definition the macro processor now sees the beginning of a quoted string. So something like this becomes gibberish.

%macro test;
* Don't use unbalanced quotes in comments ;
data test;
  name='Sam';
run;
%mend ;

Since the macro processor sees:

* Don
't use unbalanced quotes in comments ;data test;  name='
Sam
';run;%mend ;

With that last quoted string never ending.

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:42:01 GMT

Debug it step by step. Submit each macro definition separately, then call each macro separately, as it is called in your program. In between, submit something simple, like

proc print data=sashelp.class;
run;

and see when the problem starts to appear. This lets you narrow down the code where to look for a mistake.

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Toni2 — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:42:13 GMT

it started doing the same when i opened a new SAS session (it did not do it before)

Re: NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS rel

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:44:11 GMT

How exactly do you start a new SAS session?