topic Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro in SAS Procedures

how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

ttxq — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:48:41 GMT

Hi all,

I got a problem. I want to create a sas macro and the parameters are also macro variables, so how can I pass these macro variables into macro?

Thanks.

for example:

%let a=c1,c2,c3,c4,c5;

%let b=d1,d2,d3,d4,d5;

%macro input(data1,data2);

... &data1;(I want to use a here)

... &data2;(I want to use b here)

%mend;

%input(?,?); (what should I fill in here)

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

Reeza — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 21:58:59 GMT

Do you need to pass them in? They exist and you can use them in the macro as shown.

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

ttxq — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:01:20 GMT

yes, I want to know how to pass them into the Macro.

Thanks for your replying.

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

Reeza — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:09:02 GMT

Ok, add two extra parameters to your macro and then pass the two variable lists.

You'll need to mask the commas or use a different separator. I think using a different separator is easier but if you want comma's for some reason, you can mask them using the techniques here:

http://support.sas.com/kb/31/012.html

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

data_null__ — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:43:14 GMT

@ttxq wrote:

yes, I want to know how to pass them into the Macro.

Thanks for your replying.

Pass the names not the value. Then you don't have to worry about quoting in the macro call. Also you can't name a macro %INPUT.

26         %let a=c1,c2,c3,c4,c5;
27         %let b=d1,d2,d3,d4,d5;
28         %macro xinput(data1,data2);
29            %put NOTE: &&&data1 &&&data2;
30            %mend;
31         %xinput(a,b);
NOTE: c1,c2,c3,c4,c5 d1,d2,d3,d4,d5

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

ballardw — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 23:53:50 GMT

Placing commas inside a variable is often a poor idea. If you intend to use it as a macro parameter it will fail because the macro variable resolves with the commas and then each value after a comma is treated as a another parameter. Generally this results in the number of parameters passed not matching the macro definition.

%let a=c1,c2,c3,c4,c5;

What kind of macro are you building that requires the commas?

And this may help

%let a = c1 c2 c3 c4;
%let ab = %sysfunc(translate(&a,',',' '));

%put &ab;

if you place exactly one space between elements.

Or learn to use the macro quoting functions.

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

ttxq — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:15:42 GMT

It works. Thank you so much.

Re: how to pass a parameter with macro variables into macro

ttxq — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:17:15 GMT

I create the macro that is used in proc sql select statement. so I need the comma. I'll try your method. Thank you for replying.