topic problems of define a macro variable in SAS Programming

problems of define a macro variable

rpg163 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:51:32 GMT

I try to use a macro variable "num" like this,

proc sql;

select max(num) into :num
from dsn2;

quit;

data asd2;

set asd;

array a _COL3-_COL&num;

arrat b COL3-COL&num;

do i= 1 to dim(&num);

b(i)=input(a(i),best12.);

run;

well, it doesn't work, but if I do this, It seems works

proc sql;

select max(num) into :num
from dsn2;

quit;

*******;

%let numb=&num;

data asd2;

set asd;

array a _COL3-_COL&numb;

arrat b COL3-COL&numb;

do i= 1 to dim(&numb);

b(i)=input(a(i),best12.);

run;

I don't why.

Anyone can pls tell me? THX!

Re: problems of define a macro variable

polingjw — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:57:30 GMT

%LET eliminates any leading and trailing blanks.

Re: problems of define a macro variable

rpg163 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:00:13 GMT

so you mean when using

proc sql;

select max(num) into :num
from dsn2;

quit;

"num" actually contains blanks?

problems of define a macro variable

polingjw — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:04:12 GMT

Try this and you will see:

%put col&num;

%let num=&num;

%put col&num;

problems of define a macro variable

rpg163 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:08:37 GMT

You are right!!

THX!!!

problems of define a macro variable

Tom — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:12:07 GMT

You also have a syntax error in your interative DO statement. Either pass the name of the array to the DIM() function or just use the macro variable as the upper bound on the array.

do i= 1 to dim(A);

do i= 1 to &num;

problems of define a macro variable

polingjw — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:30:04 GMT

There were a couple of other errors in the original post (DO without END and ARRAY misspelled "arrat"). I suspect that rpg163 might have the same problem that I do with these forums - not being able to paste code into the editor.

problems of define a macro variable

Ksharp — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:58:02 GMT

You can use Ctrl + c and Ctrl + v to bring your code into the forum.

Another workaround is using macro function to trim these blanks.

%let num=%trim(%left(&num));

Ksharp

Re: problems of define a macro variable

rpg163 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:39:05 GMT

You are right.

I missed sth. here.

problems of define a macro variable

rpg163 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:39:36 GMT

THX! I will try this.