topic Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable? in SAS Studio

How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

Max_Meier — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:08:35 GMT

Hello guys,

i try to merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable and hope you can help me.

The String is e.g. test.

The macro variable is a counter from 1 to 3:

%let counter = 1;

And my aim is to combine them into a new macro variable that is named: test1, test2, test3.

I tried it with "||", catx, but nothing worked :(.

I hope you understand what i want.

Thank you very much.

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

PeterClemmensen — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:09:45 GMT

Show us your code please.

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

Max_Meier — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:43:58 GMT

%let counter1=1;
%let counter2=2;
%let counter3=3;

%let newmacro= test || &counter1;
%put newmacro;

*or;

%let newmacro1= catx("test", &counter1);
%put newmacro1;

That's of course just the beginning, but even there the macro "newmacro" doesn't show "test1" what i would expect.

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

PaigeMiller — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:55:46 GMT

This line

%let newmacro1= catx("test", &counter1);

will not work because CATX is a data step function, and you are not working within a data step.

Macro variables will concatenate with other macro variables, or with plain text (such as your usage of the string 'test'), just by placing them next to one another.

%let newmacro1= test&counter1;

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

Max_Meier — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 12:24:57 GMT

Ah thanks, that helped me a lot.

Now i get the correct name of the Macro variable. Is there any possibility to use this string as an own macro variable?

%let counter1=1;
%let test1=50000;

%let newmacro= test&counter1;

I mean i want to get the value 50000 from the newmacro variable?

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

xxformat_com — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 13:01:08 GMT

Hi,

First note that you're working with "macro variables" and not "macros". That's two different things.

So I would use %let newmcrvar= rather than %let newmacro=.

Second, it is a good practice to add a dot at the end of a macro variable call. You will otherwise face some issues if you have dots in your string e.g. a dot in a filename (myfile.xlsx)

Third, when you use two ampersands one after the other, they are converted to a single ampersand.

So, in your case, you currently get "test1" as output but you actually want "&test1." which will be automatically converted to 5000 in the second internal loop.

I let you figure out the solution with this extra info.

Re: How can i merge a string and a macro variable into a new macro variable?

Astounding — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 13:34:10 GMT

If test&counter1 resolves to test1, then &&test&counter1 would resolve to 5000.

But you already have a macro variable (test) that resolves to 5000. Why do you need another one?