topic Re: Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times in SAS Programming

Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times

David_Billa — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:36:00 GMT

Any leads on macro program to repeat the value for 'n' times? Assume I have the macro variables called 'name' and 'n'. If the value is 'David' and '100' then I want the name to print 100 times in the log.

Desired Output: 100 times value of name should be printed.

David

.....

David

Re: Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times

PaigeMiller — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:24:44 GMT

Bizarre request. I get the feeling there's a lot more you haven't told us ... however a very simple do-loop works

%let name=David;
%let n=100;

%macro do_this;
     %do i=1 %to &n;
          %put &name;
     %end;
%mend;
%do_this

Re: Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times

Quentin — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:32:50 GMT

EDIT:

Sorry, off-by-one error below. I hate that the developer of REPEAT() thought it should return the first argument n+1 times. So to have David appear 100 times, you need:

%put %sysfunc(repeat(&name,&n-1)) ;

There is a REPEAT function, so you can do it without a macro:

%let name=David ;
%let n=100 ;
%put %sysfunc(repeat(&name,&n)) ;

Re: Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times

Tom — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:31:04 GMT

The N provided to REPEAT() is the number of EXTRA copies to create. So subtract one.

%put %sysfunc(repeat(&name,&n-1)) ;

Re: Macro parameter to repeat the value for n times

Quentin — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 13:34:03 GMT

Thanks Tom, I only remembered that while I finished my breakfast. : )