topic Re: Macro in SAS Programming

Calculate historic date & store in macro variable

cho16 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:31:07 GMT

Hi,

I want to create a macro variable for last year and the month should be July(current month + 3) .

For example : it should be display as 01JUL2015

I have tried the below.

data _null_;

call symput('previous_year',put(intnx('month',today(),),intnx('year',today(), -1, 'S'),0,'B'),date9.));

run;

%put &previous_year ;

01APR2015

Please let me know.

Thanks

Re: Macro

Astounding — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 21:09:15 GMT

It looks like you're making this a little too complicated. How about:

call symput('previous_year', put(intnx('month', today(), -9), date9.));

Last year + 3 months is the same as going back 9 months.

Re: Macro

cho16 — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 21:17:07 GMT

Thanks !

But it should be automated for every month .If it runs for next month then it should be August.

Re: Macro

Astounding — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 21:20:14 GMT

Not a problem. Your code already contains the today() function and the intnx function. You might have to read the documentation to understand what they do.

Re: Macro

LinusH — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 04:49:31 GMT

October through December &last_year will actually contain a value of current year...

Re: Macro

RW9 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 08:59:58 GMT

What is the point in putting a date in a macro variable? You know the formula you want to use, so why not just use that in your code where you need to rather than setting up a text string (which is what a macro variable is), and then messing around with trying to use that as a date.

Re: Macro

LinusH — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:29:13 GMT

Well, one reason could be to use it in a where clause on an indexed variable. Function calls may prevent the index from being used.

Re: Macro

LinusH — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:31:33 GMT

Renamed the topic to better descibe the issue.