topic Re: MACRO in SAS Procedures

MACRO

R_A_G_ — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:33:42 GMT

hello,

What is the difference in ending the macro TYPE1 Vs. TYPE2.
Thanks

TYPE1:
%macro tryit;
*%let dattype=ae;
%let dattype=demog;
*%let dattype=meds;
***********************;
%put data type is &dattype;
%mend tryit;
%tryit

TYPE2:
%macro tryit;
*%let dattype=ae;
%let dattype=demog;
*%let dattype=meds;
***********************;
%put data type is &dattype;
%mend;
%tryit;

Re: MACRO

SusieQ324 — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:16:01 GMT

Syntax-wise, I think you'll need to state the macro name in TYPE2 on your %mend statement. But other than that, invoking the macro is the same.

Re: MACRO

Cynthia_sas — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:29:04 GMT

Hi:
As the documentation says
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/mcrolref/61885/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a000206958.htm
-- repeating the macro name is not required, but is very useful for clarity, especially when a job might have more than 1 definition for a macro program inside.

cynthia

Re: MACRO

RickM — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:31:06 GMT

You don't really need the macro name in the %mend statement. It just helps you keep track of which macro you just ended. There is no difference between the two types.

Re: MACRO

R_A_G_ — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:31:58 GMT

thanks for always helping

Re: MACRO

chang_y_chung_hotmail_com — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:41:57 GMT

In case you are asking if we should invoke a macro with or without a trailing semi-colon:

%macro test;

%let dattype=demog;

%put data type is &dattype;

%mend test;

%*-- type1 --*;

%test

%*-- type2 --*;

%test;

It depends. A macro invocation does not require a semi-colon, but anything that can signal the end of the invocation. Thus if your macro generates a complete statement including the statement ending semi-colon, then the type 2 style invocation results in an extra semi-colon. This is often OK, though, if the extra semi-colon, in the context, can be considered as a null statement and is ignored.