topic Macro issue and how to permanently change values of a variable? in SAS Programming

Macro issue and how to permanently change values of a variable?

excelsas — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:53:56 GMT

I have written a macro to split a large dataset into several states datasets but getting an error message for OR (Oregon) state as it is a boolean operator but working fine for NE(Nebraska) state.
I tried %quote but it did not work.

%quote(&state)=%str(OR)

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Also I used Proc format and value to change the values of a variable in the main datasets but the values are unchanged in the states datasets.
What should I use to change the values permanently?

Thanks,

Re: Macro issue and how to permanently change values of a variable?

Ksharp — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:27:47 GMT

Have you used %superq() ?

Ksharp

Re: Macro issue and how to permanently change values of a variable?

DBailey — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:51:22 GMT

Within macros, I often have to use the double quote like this:

"&State."="OR"

I know there are sometimes issues with the variables have extraneous characters, but if the domain is known, this might work.

Re: Macro issue and how to permanently change values of a variable?

sbb — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:18:12 GMT

%quote(...) with %str(..) works -- also a technique I sometimes use is to simply append a period/dot character in the expression to remove the resemblence of a Boolean operator, such as shown below.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

%macro x(state);
%if %quote(&state) = %str(OR) %then %put yep;
%else %put nope;
%Mend x;
%x(NE);

%macro x(state);
%if .&state = .OR %then %put yep;
%else %put nope;
%Mend x;
%x(OR);