topic Macro variable: what is the offset? in SAS Programming

Macro variable: what is the offset?

xxformat_com — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 15:44:50 GMT

Hi,

An offset variable is listing in macros dictionary.

I've never seen any other value than offset=0.

Do you know when it could be different? What is this information for?

proc sql;
   select *
   from dictionary.macros;
quit;

Re: Macro variable: what is the offset?

PaigeMiller — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 15:55:46 GMT

Example of OFFSET and explanation here: https://www.lexjansen.com/nesug/nesug06/po/po06.pdf

Re: Macro variable: what is the offset?

FreelanceReinh — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 16:32:39 GMT

Hi @xxformat_com,

The column VALUE in dictionary.macros has a fixed length of 200 bytes. So, if the value of a macro variable is longer than 200 characters, it will be split into substrings of up to 200 characters to fit into multiple records of dictionary.macros. The second, third, ... record will then have OFFSET values of 200, 400, etc.

Addendum: See the 2020 post Re: When are dictionary tables updated? for a case where this OFFSET column helped to understand how dictionary tables work.

Re: Macro variable: what is the offset?

xxformat_com — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 08:34:43 GMT

Thank you @PaigeMiller

Re: Macro variable: what is the offset?

xxformat_com — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 08:35:07 GMT

Thank you @FreelanceReinhard