How to check if a macro variable has a specified value

Wolverine — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:13:53 GMT

I'm importing several Excel files. Each has 3 sheets: Known from Source 1 (known1), Known from Source 2 (known2), and Estimated (est). After importation, all 3 sheets will be merged into a single SAS file. I need to flag the imported records to show if they came from the Estimated sheet or not.

I think I need a conditional IF statement, but I can't get the code right. The code I have now basically says that if the variable est equals the value "est" then... But of course there is no variable named est, so it doesn't work.

%macro import(sheet);

DATA want; SET have;
IF &sheet. = "est" THEN flg_est = 1; ELSE flg_est= 0;
RUN;

%mend;
%import(known1)
%import(known2)
%import(est)

Re: How to check if a macro variable has a specified value

Tom — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:31:11 GMT

To see why you got that message turn the MPRINT option before running the macro.

You should see that you generated lines like:

IF est = "est" THEN flg_est = 1;

Which to the data step compiler means you want to compare the value of the variable named EST to the string literal "est".

Just add quotes around the value in your macro code:

IF "&sheet." = "est" THEN flg_est = 1;

So that it generates this SAS code:

IF "est" = "est" THEN flg_est = 1

topic Re: How to check if a macro variable has a specified value in SAS Programming

How to check if a macro variable has a specified value

Re: How to check if a macro variable has a specified value