topic Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"? in SAS Programming

"ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 07:49:16 GMT

Hello, can anyone see in the code below why I might be getting the "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

libname x"\\...;

%macro copy_two(qtrname, year, filename);

libname A"\\...;
libname B"\\...;

data B.&filename.&qtrname.&year. (keep=ID cost);/*any other variables to keep go here*/
/*qtr=&qtrname.;
year=&year.;*/
set A.&filename.;
run;

proc sql;
create table B..x&filename.&qtrname.&year. as select *
from B.&filename.&qtrname.&year.;
quit;

%mend copy_two;

%macro loop(start,end);

%do i = &start. %to &end.;
%copy_two(Mar, &i., file);
%copy_two(Jun, &i., file);
%copy_two(Sep, &i., file);
%copy_two(Dec, &i., file);
%end;

%mend loop;

/*specify the years of interest*/
%loop(11,21)

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 08:04:30 GMT

The first possible issue is right in the first statement:

libname x"\\...;

The physical path misses the closing double quote.

But for real diagnostics, we MUST see the whole log of your code, from the beginning to at least up to the first ERROR message.

Use this button to post the log:

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 08:55:55 GMT

Hi Kurt,

Thank you for looking at this; the code includes the " at the end. this is the log error:

180: LINE and COLUMN cannot be determined.
NOTE: NOSPOOL is on. Rerunning with OPTION SPOOL might allow recovery of the LINE and COLUMN where the error has occurred.
ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order.
NOTE: PROC SQL set option NOEXEC and will continue to check the syntax of statements.
NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to show the code exactly or the log, but I hope this helps a bit.

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 09:27:43 GMT

Quote from myself:

But for real diagnostics, we MUST see the whole log of your code, from the beginning to at least up to the first ERROR message.

Emphasis added

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Patrick — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 09:34:54 GMT

...and as the log tells you add at the beginning of your code: options spool;

Why are there two full stops?

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 01:43:18 GMT

sorry Kurt, I'm not allowed to

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 01:44:23 GMT

it's not the dots that's causing the error, and we shouldn't need options spool

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Tom — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 02:24:57 GMT

Make sure to turn on the MPRINT option so you can see the SAS code that the macro generates (and that the error message is talking about).

And you definitely cannot have a member name that starts with a period.

create table B..x&filename.&qtrname.&year.

Unless you set option VALIDMEMNAME=EXTEND. And even then you would need to have the macro generate a name literal.

create table B.".x&filename.&qtrname.&year."n

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 03:44:44 GMT

thank you Tom, but i have tried:
proc sql;
create table B.test&filename.&qtrname.&year. as select *
from B.&filename.&qtrname.&year.;
quit;
same error given, so i don't think the period made any difference

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Tom — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 03:50:46 GMT

@2222 wrote:
thank you Tom, but i have tried:
proc sql;
create table B.test&filename.&qtrname.&year. as select *
from B.&filename.&qtrname.&year.;
quit;
same error given, so i don't think the period made any difference

So you fixed one error, but you still have another error.

Your code does not look that complicated so it is highly likely the error is actually being generated by something you ran BEFORE the code you posted.

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

2222 — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 03:53:24 GMT

but the code i posted (to begin thread) is the whole program

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Patrick — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 04:17:09 GMT

@2222

Then eventually you really should set at the very beginning of your program

options mprint symbolgen spool;

As for spool: That's what the SAS log recommends you to do.

Also make sure that you run your code out of a fresh new SAS session (with EG for example disconnect from your session before re-running).

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 04:23:23 GMT

Then you will need SAS technical support to help you.

Re: "ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order"?

Patrick — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 04:44:52 GMT

@2222

Below code works.

Not sure where in your code you're using libref X or where you define and populate &filename. You certainly haven't shared all the code with us.

Also note that because you pass in string "file" to macro %loop() the only value &filename may have for things to work is file. Not sure if this is what you intended to do.

options dlcreatedir spool mprint symbolgen;
%let filename=FILE;
libname x "c:\temp\a";

data x.&filename;
  do id=1 to 5;
    cost=id*10;
    output;
  end;
run;

%macro copy_two(qtrname, year, filename);
  libname A "c:\temp\a";
  libname B "c:\temp\b";

  data B.&filename.&qtrname.&year. (keep=ID cost);/*any other variables to keep go here*/
    /*qtr=&qtrname.;
    year=&year.;*/
    set A.&filename.;
  run;

  proc sql;
    create table B.x&filename.&qtrname.&year. as select *
      from B.&filename.&qtrname.&year.;
  quit;

%mend copy_two;

%macro loop(start,end);
  %do i = &start. %to &end.;
    %copy_two(Mar, &i., file);
    %copy_two(Jun, &i., file);
    %copy_two(Sep, &i., file);
    %copy_two(Dec, &i., file);
  %end;
%mend loop;

/*specify the years of interest*/
%loop(11,21)