topic Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?! in SAS Programming

How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

hellohere — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 15:13:39 GMT

Need to exit one macro but without ending sas session[other macros]?! %return seems end the session, so does %abort.

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

SASKiwi — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 19:12:47 GMT

%RETURN terminates the current macro, not your SAS session. You need to post your code so we can figure out what is happening.

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

sbxkoenk — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 07:24:39 GMT

The %RETURN Macro Statement indeed.

I also use the %GOTO Macro Statement (%GOTO label;) a lot:

Example: Providing Exits in a Large Macro
(The %GOTO statement is useful in large macros when you want to provide an exit if an error occurs.)
This example can be found on this SAS doc page:
%GOTO Macro Statement: SAS Help Center

Ciao,
Koen

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

hellohere — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:48:44 GMT


%macro loop_a(x, xtest);
	%do i=1 %to 50;
		%put "i=&i. x=&x. xtest=&xtest.";
		%if &x.> %sysfunc(floor(&xtest.)) %then %return;
	%end;
%mend;

%macro loop_b();
	%do i=1 %to 10;
		%let y=%sysfunc(ranuni(&i.))*100;
		%put "y=&y.";
		%loop_a(&i., &y.);
	%end;
%mend;

%loop_b();

When run, how many loops loop_b() do?!

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

Quentin — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:46:25 GMT

@hellohere wrote:


%macro loop_a(x, xtest);
	%do i=1 %to 50;
		%put "i=&i. x=&x. xtest=&xtest.";
		%if &x.> %sysfunc(floor(&xtest.)) %then %return;
	%end;
%mend;

%macro loop_b();
	%do i=1 %to 10;
		%let y=%sysfunc(ranuni(&i.))*100;
		%put "y=&y.";
		%loop_a(&i., &y.);
	%end;
%mend;

%loop_b();

When run, how many loops loop_b() do?!

This would be better as a new question. loop_b will only iterate once, because in the definition of loop_a (and loop_b), you forgot to create the macro variable &i as a local macro variable. Therefore when %loop_a executes, instead of creating its own macro variable &i, it will use the existing macro variable &i that is owned by %loop_b.

On the first iteration of %loop_b, %loop_a is called one time and iterates 50 times, and after that &i will have the value 51. %loop_b will not iterate a second time, because 51 is greater than 10.

Test code:

%macro loop_a();
  %* local i ;
  %do i=1 %to 50;
    %put &=sysmacroname &=i ;
    %put _user_ ;
  %end;
%mend;

%macro loop_b();
  %* local i ;
  %do i=1 %to 10;
    %put &=sysmacroname &=i ;
    %loop_a()
  %end;
%mend;

%loop_b()

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

hellohere — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:08:13 GMT

thanks for the point.

So, if not explicitly decleared as local, the i/j variable at different macro will interfere?!

Re: How to exit macro without ending SAS session?!

Quentin — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:13:09 GMT

@hellohere wrote:

thanks for the point.

So, if not explicitly decleared as local, the i/j variable at different macro will interfere?!

Yes, exactly, this is a macro variable "collision". Luckily your collision resulted in a loop that ends prematurely. If you had done it the other way around, it would have created an infinite loop.

You should "always" declare macro variables you create inside a macro to be local. Unless you have a very good reason not to do so (which is rare).