topic Semi Colon in Macro and Datastep in SAS Programming

Semi Colon in Macro and Datastep

DavidPhillips2 — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 17:36:58 GMT

How can I include a semi-colon in the variable created in a data step? I found a post that talked about superq, but it seems to not work for me in this case.

data _null_;
  length result1 $3000;
result1 = catx(' ',  result1, 'Hello world', 40.);
  call symputx('defineAnalysis1',      result1, 'g'); 
run;
/*This shows Hello world*/
/*how to make it show Hello world;*/
%put &defineAnalysis1;

Re: Semi Colon in Macro and Datastep

Astounding — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 17:53:23 GMT

The easiest way: include the semicolon when replacing RESULT1. The 3rd parameter in CATX would become:

'Hello world:'

Do you have some conditions that would make this a bad idea?

Re: Semi Colon in Macro and Datastep

PaigeMiller — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 17:53:59 GMT

You just put the semi-colon where you want it, and then you will need to %QUOTE the results

data _null_;
  length result1 $3000;
  result1 = catx(' ',  result1, 'Hello world;',40);
  call symputx('defineAnalysis1',      result1, 'g'); 
run;
/*This shows Hello world*/
/*how to make it show Hello world;*/
%put %quote(&defineAnalysis1);

Re: Semi Colon in Macro and Datastep

DavidPhillips2 — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:01:00 GMT

Thanks, I was googling escape characters for a while.