topic Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command in SAS Programming

Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command

Saugata — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:13:30 GMT

Hi,

I am trying something very simple. Just cutting a file (for example doc file) from one loacation and pasting it to another using X command. This should not be a problem but whenever I am using a Macro variable to resolve folder location I am facing problems.

The simple code is:

x  'move "C:\Data\Learning Products\New Folder\New Microsoft Word Document.doc" "C:\Data\Learning Products"';

This is running perfectly and giving me desired results.

But when I am running the same code using Macro variables:


%let abc=New Folder;
%let xyz=New Microsoft Word Document.doc; 
 
X 'move "C:\Data\Learning Products\&abc.\&xyz" "C:\Data\Learning Products"';

This Code is not working and in the DOS window I am getting: 'The System could not find the file specified' error.

Can anyone please point out the error I am making in the second code?

Thanks in advance for your effort.

Re: Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command

polingjw — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:31:20 GMT

The problem is that the macro variables are not resolved inside the single quote marks. Try using this:

x %unquote(%str(%')move "C:\Data\Learning Products\&abc\&xyz" "C:\Data\Learning Products"%str(%'));

Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command

Saugata — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:14:43 GMT

Thanks polingjw it worked like a charm.

Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command

polingjw — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:18:42 GMT

I just thought of an easier solution. Just remove the single quotes from your original X statement, as this syntax is not required.

Facing problem while cut pasting files using X command

Ksharp — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:49:04 GMT

It is very intesting .

Another workaround way is to make a .bat file ,then use X command to execute it.

%let a=Task temp;
%let b=file.pdf;
data _null_;
 file 'c:\a.bat';
 a=catt('move "c:\',symget('b'),'" "c:\',symget('a'),'" ');
 put a;
run;
options noxwait;
x 'c:\a.bat';
x 'del c:\a.bat';

Ksharp