topic Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly in SAS Programming

Macro interpreting array incorrectly

lbarwick — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:33:22 GMT

I am using call execute to pass values from a table to parameters in my macro code. The intent is to produce an output table for each prot and table containing only specific fields based on my projects meta data. One of the parameters is a list of fields that I have concatenated together that I want to use in a keep statement, e.g.

prot	table	char_fields	num_fields
AAA01	01	CHAR1 CHAR2 CHAR3 CHAR4	NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 NUM4
AAA01	02	CHAR1 CHAR2 CHAR3 CHAR4	NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 NUM4
BBB01	01	CHAR1 CHAR2 CHAR3 CHAR4	NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 NUM4
BBB01	02	CHAR1 CHAR2 CHAR3 CHAR4	NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 NUM4

One variable in the source table is a list of character formatted fields, the other is a list of numeric formatted fields. I am passing the char_fields value to a character array within the macro, and the num_fields to a numeric array in the macro.

%macro freetext (prot,table,charfield,numfield);

data &prot._&table1

set &prot._&table;

by prot;

array charfield (*) &charfields:;

array numfield (*) &numfields:;

keep site prot patid &charfields &numfields; run;

%mend freetext

data _null_;

set source;

call

execute('%freetext('||prot||','||table||','||charfields||','||numfields||')');

run;

Now, this works for 99% of the tables produced via the macro, but for a few, the macro seems to be mis-interpreting the field type in the array statements and throws this error:

ERROR: All variables in array list must be the same type, i.e., all numeric or character.

I have tried executing the data step outside of the macro by hard coding the array and I do not get this error message. Does anyone happen to know why the array is behaving differently within the macro vs. outside of it?

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

RW9 — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:51:31 GMT

Hi,

Can you provide test data in a datastep which causes the issue, and the exact code you are using. The code you posted is wrong in several ways:

%macro freetext (prot,table,charfield,numfield);

data &prot._&table1 /* Missing semicolon to close data, and missing dot to finish macro variable */

set &prot._&table; / * we have no example of what AAA01.01 looks like, and datasets should not be numeric start */

by prot;

array charfield (*) &charfields:; /* Macro variables are terminated by a full stop, not a semicolon. Charfields is not a macro variable witihin this code &CHARFIELD. */

array numfield (*) &numfields:; /* As above */

keep site prot patid &charfields &numfields; run; /* as above.

%mend freetext

data _null_;

set source;

call

execute('%freetext('||prot||','||table||','||charfields||','||numfields||')'); /* Missing semicolon after first ) */

run;

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

lbarwick — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 15:12:50 GMT

Sorry, in my haste to post this and anonymize my code there were probably some typos. Here is my complete code:

%macro freetext (prot,table,freefieldlist,charfieldlist,numfieldlist);

data &prot._&table;

set &prot..&table;

by prot;

array charfield (*) &charfieldlist:;

array numfield (*) &numfieldlist:;

keep site prot patid &charfieldlist &numfieldlist; run;

%mend freetext;

data _null_;

set source;

call

execute('%freetext('||prot||','||table_name||','||freefieldlist||','||charfieldlist||','||numfieldlist||')');

run;

Here is an example of the source table I am using in call execute:

prot	table_name	charfieldlist	numfieldlist
ABC01	TAB1	CHAR1 CHAR3 CHAR5	NUM1 NUM3 NUM4
ABC02	TAB2	CHAR6 CHAR7 CHAR	NUM6 NUM7 NUM8
ABC03	TAB3	CHAR11 CHAR13 CHAR14	NUM12 NUM13 NUM14

Here is an example of &prot..&table used in set statement (in this case the TAB1 table for prot ABC01):

site	prot	patid	CHAR1	CHAR2	CHAR3	CHAR4	CHAR5	NUM1	NUM2	NUM3	NUM4	NUM5
Site1	ABC01	001	ABC	DEF	GHI	JKL	MNO	111	222	333	444	555
Site2	ABC01	002	AAB	DDE	GGH	JJK	MMN	112	223	334	445	556
Site3	ABC01	003	BBC	EEF	HHI	KKL	NNO	113	224	335	446	557

Here is an example of the &prot._&table output after the macro executes:

site	prot	patid	char1	char3	char5	num1	num3	num4
Site1	ABC01	001	ABC	GHI	MNO	111	333	444
Site2	ABC01	002	AAB	GGH	MMN	112	334	445
Site3	ABC01	003	BBC	HHI	KKL	113	335	446

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

Ron_MacroMaven — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 15:23:51 GMT

array charfield (*) &charfields:;

should be

array charfield (*) $ &charfields;

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

Ron_MacroMaven — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 15:27:05 GMT

... and, for a macro which calls a macro,

this replaces your call execute step;

see

Macro CallMacr - sasCommunity

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

data_null__ — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 15:27:11 GMT

The specification of the array variable list with the added colon : is probably not doing what you think and or what you want.

array charfield (*) &charfieldlist:;

If CHARFIELDLIST is CHAR1 CHAR3 then you are asking for variables CHAR1 and all variable that begin with CHAR3. I think if you remove that colon your problem will be solved.

Re: Macro interpreting array incorrectly

lbarwick — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 16:36:09 GMT

This solved the issue, I probably copied this from another line somewhere and accidentally retained the colon.