topic Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running in SAS Programming

Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

atesera — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:58:26 GMT

Hi, my question is 'How to completely stop a SAS batch while running?' I read through the posts available on this website however, using CTRL+BRK does only stop the current SAS program within the batch. But the next SAS program after that one still continues to run. I am looking for a procedure to bring the batch to a complete stop so that SAS terminates.

So, let's say I have 3 SAS programs under the batch and when I start the batch the first programs runs and then when 1st completed then 2nd program starts and so on. When I stop the 2nd program running, yes, the 2nd one is killed however, then goes to the 3rd SAS program and that starts running. My goal is when I stop the batch, I don't want the rest of the programs run.

Any ideas, suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Quentin — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:36:12 GMT

A batch job runs unattended, so there is no interface from SAS to kill it like you can with an interactive job. But, if you have access, typically the operating system provides ways to kill an active job.

Where/how is your batch submitted job running? Is it running locally on a Windows laptop? Then you can use Task Manager to find the running process and kill it. If it's running on a linux server and you can connect via a terminal, then you can use linux commands to find the process and kill it.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

SASKiwi — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:56:41 GMT

How do you start your batch jobs? If you run them via a scheduler, then typically schedulers have a stop job feature.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

quickbluefish — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:31:41 GMT

Agree that doing this via the OS (e.g., if you're using Linux, in an 'at' job) is probably the most direct. However, if you can't do that, you could build something into the start and end of each program (for those higher than #1) that looks for some condition, and if it doesn't find it, it aborts.


%macro startstop(beginning=, lib=);

    %if &beginning %then %do;
        * check for presence of <LIB>.continue ;
        proc sql noprint;
        select count(*) into :continue trimmed 
        from dictionary.tables 
        WHERE libname=upcase("&lib") and lowcase(memname)='continue';
        quit;

        %if &continue=0 %then %do;
            %put ERROR: batch job terminated before running &sysprocessname;
            %abort cancel;
        %end;
        proc datasets lib=&lib memtype=data nolist nodetails;
        delete continue;
        run; quit;
    %end;
    %else %do;
           data &lib..continue;  x=1;  run;
    %end;
%mend; *startstop();

** THEN, IN YOUR PROGRAM #1 PUT THIS AT THE **END** ;
%startstop(beginning=0, lib=<YOUR LIBREF>);

** and in PROGRAMS #2 and higher, put this at the beginning: ;
%startstop(beginning=1, lib=<YOUR LIBREF>);

** ... and this at the end ;
%startstop(beginning=0, lib=<YOUR LIBREF>);

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

quickbluefish — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:45:04 GMT

...no idea why the SAS editor is squishing the last several lines after the macro into one line after I post it - pretty annoying.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Quentin — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:44:00 GMT

@quickbluefish wrote:
...no idea why the SAS editor is squishing the last several lines after the macro into one line after I post it - pretty annoying.

I fixed your post.

It's a weird bug. It happens if you edit the code after you have inserted it, and you don't use the code editor. To avoid the problem, before you edit the code, click the "insert SAS code" button so that you edit it in the code editor, instead of the message editor.

See this thread for a better explanation of the work around: https://communities.sas.com/t5/All-Things-Community/Bug-when-editing-existing-post/m-p/448947#M3084

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

quickbluefish — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 23:49:35 GMT

@Quentin - thanks for the tip and the edit!

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

atesera — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:53:11 GMT

Thanks @Quentin for your response. The problem is when I kill the running program within the batch that program is aborted however, the second program in the batch starts running. I want to completely stop all the programs, ones running as well as the next ones in line.

I submit the batch using Task Scheduler (start at a specific time) however, when I use the Task Manager same thing happens. stops the current one but the program after it kicks in.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

atesera — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:54:47 GMT

I start it using the Task Scheduler (start at a specific time) but i have other batches that are either manual start or by rules on Outlook.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

atesera — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:59:16 GMT

Thanks for your response. will this code (condition abort) stop the current one or all the rest of the programs next in line. Because what I experienced with manually stopping the batch is it stops the current SAS program running but I have several SAS programs within the same batch so when current one is stopped the second one starts running. I want to stop the whole batch or terminate the system so none of the SAS programs after that even starts.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

SASKiwi — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 02:16:56 GMT

If you restructured your programs so that you just scheduled / ran one controlling program that used the %INCLUDE statement to run the others then this would fix your problem.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

quickbluefish — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 02:32:35 GMT

this will stop the whole chain, because each subsequent program after the failure will look for the presence of the 'continue' dataset and, if not found, will stop immediately. However, I think the post below by SASKiwi is better - I think once SAS goes into an error state (&SYSCC>=7), it will not run any subsequent %INCLUDEd programs - though I've never tested this.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:02:34 GMT

So you seem to have a single shell script/batch file containing calls of multiple SAS programs.
It would be better to schedule each program separately, and have them run in succession depending on the successful completion of the preceding job.
With a combined shell script, kill the script first and then the SAS program.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Patrick — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 10:01:58 GMT

@atesera wrote:

Thanks @Quentin for your response. The problem is when I kill the running program within the batch that program is aborted however, the second program in the batch starts running. I want to completely stop all the programs, ones running as well as the next ones in line.

I submit the batch using Task Scheduler (start at a specific time) however, when I use the Task Manager same thing happens. stops the current one but the program after it kicks in.

From how I understand you, you've got some master .bat script that calls .sas programs in sequence. If you execute the .sas programs in foreground (=not using START) then killing the master .bat process should give you the outcome you're after.

Alternatively: Add in your master .bat script some error checking so that .sas programs only run if a previous program didn't return an error condition.

Even though I believe just scheduling some master .sas program with %include statement would also work but I don't like the approach because this would execute all included programs in a single SAS session - and if prog1 changes the environment line changing an option then prog2 will also execute with this changed option.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Quentin — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 13:37:13 GMT

Can you describe your current scenario? You say:

"So, let's say I have 3 SAS programs under the batch ..."

A SAS batch job is not a group of programs that are run in series.

From what you have shared, others have guessed that you have a .bat file (or maybe a powershell script?) which is invoking multiple SAS sessions in series. Is that correct?

Can you please share the code for that script, just so that we can be clear that we're understanding your scenario? Or if you are using some other program to orchestrate the execution of a series of SAS programs, please provide the details on how your are doing this.

If you have a single Task Scheduler task which executes three SAS programs, please show the code / setup for that task.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

quickbluefish — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:37:19 GMT

...can confirm that this method proposed by SASkiwi works -- here's an example. If, for instance, there's an error in PROG2, the master program (the one shown below) will terminate and no remaining programs will be run:

OPTIONS ERRORABEND;

%put running prog1 -- ERR: &syscc ;
%include "/some/path/prog1.sas";

%put running prog2 -- ERR: &syscc ;
%include "/some/path/prog2.sas";

%put running prog3 -- ERR: &syscc ;
%include "/some/path/prog3.sas";

%put running prog4 -- ERR: &syscc ;
%include "/some/path/prog4.sas";

%put DONE -- ERR: &syscc;

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

SASKiwi — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 23:49:57 GMT

@quickbluefish - What I typically ensure with %INCLUDE chained jobs is that the SAS OPTION SYNTAXCHECK is set. This is set by default for batch jobs anyway. With this option an error still results in ALL code still running, including the %INCLUDE programs, but no data is processed as OBS = 0 has been set. This means failed jobs finish quickly but still contain complete logs which in my view is ideal for troubleshooting.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

Patrick — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 01:53:12 GMT

@SASKiwi Not sure how SAS behaves in current versions but at least in the past even with SAS in syntax check mode some code still executed (like full pass-through SQL) which can lead to issues.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

SASKiwi — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 22:39:34 GMT

@Patrick - I haven't seen that behaviour in the versions we use, the oldest being 9.4M2. We in fact use SQL Passthru a lot, and that is most commonly where our programs break. Following an SQL Passthru error we typically see an SQL connection CLI error, SYNTAXCHECK mode switches on and the rest of the program finishes quickly as no further data is processed.

Re: Stopping a SAS batch job completely while running

atesera — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:28:05 GMT

Hi, yes that's correct. One single batch containing multiple SAS programs and once the first one finishes then second one runs and goes until the last one completed.

That might be an option, but I guess I have to put a statement at the end of each program to tell the next program that it completed successfully.