topic Re: storing macro variable values in data set in SAS Programming

storing macro variable values in data set

SAS_inquisitive — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:02:03 GMT

I want to store values of macro variable "&macvar" in a data set.

%macro m;

	proc sql noprint;
		select distinct name
			into: macvar separated by ' '
		from sashelp.class;
	quit;

	%put &macvar;

	data _null_;
		%do i= 1 %to 19;
			%put %scan(&macvar,&i,' ');
		%end;
	run;

%mend m;

%m

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

Astounding — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:32:15 GMT

If you want the individual NAME values stored separately, you don't need the macro variable:

proc sql;

create table want as select distinct name from sashelp.class;

quit;

If you want the entire string stored as one long DATA step variable, you could use:

data want;

value = "&macvar";

run;

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

SAS_inquisitive — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:47:56 GMT

@Astounding. I was trying to process the list (&macvar) and output each value in a data set (such as using OUTPUT statement).

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

Astounding — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:59:05 GMT

OK, still not too difficult. Here's the basic idea:

data want;

length value $ 32;

do i=1 to countw("&macvar");

value = scan("&macvar", i, ' ');

output;

end;

run;

I'm not sure if there might be a set of special characters that COUNTW would treat as delimiters (besides a blank). You might have to modify the DO statement to account for that, if &MACVAR might contain special characters.

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

LinusH — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:02:55 GMT

Assuming that this for learning purpose only since the operation of creating a macro variable from a table, and then create a new table with its values is just crazy.
Or is there a real requirement that is not shown by your example?
As stated, can't recall any real world case where I did such an operation.
But technically, you need to scan the the variable in a do while/until loop and do explicit output.

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

SAS_inquisitive — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:42:48 GMT

@Astounding. Thank you. This is what I was looking for.

Re: storing macro variable values in data set

SAS_inquisitive — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:52:54 GMT

@ LinusH. This is just an example. But I know being able to process list (either horizontal or vertical) is an important skill.