topic ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement. in SAS Programming

ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement.

kimdukes77 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:29:12 GMT

Can anyone help with the above error when running this small section of code below?

%macro start;

%if &i_creative. = 1 %then %do

data &tmp_filelist.;

length filename $150;

run;

%end;

%else %if &i_creative. >1 %then %do

proc append base=&tmp_filelist. data=&tmp_filelist2. force;

run;

%end;

%mend start;

Re: ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement.

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:34:55 GMT

You are missing semicolons to end the macro %do statements:

%macro start;
%if &i_creative. = 1 %then %do;
data &tmp_filelist.;
length filename $150;
run;
%end;
%else %if &i_creative. >1 %then %do;
proc append base=&tmp_filelist. data=&tmp_filelist2. force;
run;
%end;
%mend start;

Re: ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement.

data_null__ — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:36:45 GMT

You need to add a semicolon after the word

%DO;

In both lines where it appears.

Re: ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement.

kimdukes77 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:40:54 GMT

Ah yes of course - such a schoolgirl error.

Curse SAS with it's misleading error messages!

Re: ERROR: An unexpected semicolon occurred in the %DO statement.

Reeza — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:32:30 GMT

Just a note that you don't need that piece of code.

PROC APPEND doesn't require the base data set to preexist, so you only need the last section.