topic Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command in SAS Enterprise Guide

Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

PriyaL — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 09:47:13 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to Unzip some files in a location connected to UNIX.

However there are several to Unzip and I thought it will be easier to code using a macro.

But I am not sure how to alter the "x" command or use the following statement in the macro

x "gunzip /sas/data/...."

Would anyone have any ideas of how to implement this code in the macro.

Thanks.

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

Reeza — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 10:01:17 GMT

EG typically doesn't allow for X commands unless you've overridden the default settings.

Whats the parameter for your macro? The filenames? Or will you automatically scan a folder for zip files and unzip them all?

Before writing a macro first get base code working. Then determine your parameters, and then convert.

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 10:15:27 GMT

First of all, gunzip accepts a list of files on the commandline. Therefore you can use wildcard characters to name a group or groups of files.

Second, you need to have the XCMD system option enabled at startup; there is an option for that in the metadata of workspace servers. You cannot change this option during SAS runtime.

Third, you can run your gunzip command repeatedly from a dataset containing filenames with call system(). No need for a macro, unless you want to automate that (parameterized filename patterns, directories).

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

rogerjdeangelis — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:30:59 GMT

If you have IML Studio then you should have a bridge to R you can then do the following

    library(R.utils);                                                                                                                                                 
    wd<-getwd();                                                                                                                                                      
    setwd("c:\\temp");                                                                                                                                                
    gunzip("class.sas7bdat.gz",remove=FALSE,overwrite=TRUE);                                                                                                          
    setwd(wd);    

Note gunzip removes the gz file and creates c:/temp/class.sas7bdat

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

Tom — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:48:16 GMT

You can call the X command in a macro the same way you would call it outside of a macro.

%macro gunzip(filename);
x "gunzip &filename" ;
%mend gunzip;

But I find it is usually better to use a pipe to run commands since you can then capture any responses the command might make.

%macro gunzip(filename);
data _null_;
  infile "gunzip &filename" pipe;
  input;
  put _infile_;
run;
%mend gunzip;

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

rogerjdeangelis — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 17:41:17 GMT

Curious if the IML bridge to R works with NOXCMD

Re: Connecting to UNIX in a macro with "x" command

Patrick — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 01:17:33 GMT

Have you considered using the Filename ZIP engine? Here how this could work:

http://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/2015/05/11/using-filename-zip-to-unzip-and-read-data-files-in-sas/