Global and Local Scope of Macro variables

[GeethaMN]

%let season = sunny;
%put &season;

%macro mn;
	%let weather = rainy;
	%put &weather;
	%global weather;

	%let season = winter;
	%put &season;
	%local season;
%mend;

%mn;

data _null_;
	if %symglobl(weather) then put 'True';
		else put 'False';
    if %symlocal(season) then put 'True';
		else put 'False';
run;

Hello everyone,

1) In the above program i have created a macro variable called season as a global(by using %let method i.e. outside macro definition) and redefined it as local (by defining inside Macro definition) at the same time am redefining it as local by using %local . even then %symlocal(season) says FALSE. why?

my question is now what is the scope of this season variable global or local?  

2) defined weather macro variable inside macro definition so it will be having local scope for sure. but redefining it's scope as global by using %global even then %symglobl(weather) and %symlocal(weather) both were showing it as FALSE. why?

please help me in understanding this concept.

[Kurt_Bremser]

First of all, your code produces a ERROR message:

16         %let season = sunny;
17         %put &season;
sunny
18         
19         %macro mn;
20         	%let weather = rainy;
21         	%put &weather;
22         	%global weather;
23         
24         	%let season = winter;
25         	%put &season;
26         	%local season;
27         %mend;
28         
29         %mn;
rainy
ERROR: Attempt to %GLOBAL a name (WEATHER) which exists in a local environment.
winter

(when run on a "clean" environment with no user-defined macro variables present)

This happens because you already "defined" weather as local by the %let. It was created in the local table and will stay there for the duration of the macro.

Therefore the %global and %local statement needs to be moved inside the macro. See later example.

Now, local macro variables are only viewable inside the macro where they are defined as local.

Outside, you can only see global macro variables, never the versions local to a macro.

%let season = sunny;
%put &season;

%macro mn;
	%global weather;
	%let weather = rainy;
	%put &weather;

	%local season;
	%let season = winter;
	%put &season;
data _null_;
put 'Inside macro';
if %symglobl(weather)
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
if %symlocal(season)
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
run;
%mend;

%mn;

data _null_;
put 'Outside macro';
if %symglobl(weather)
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
if %symlocal(season)
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
run;

see this log:

16         %let season = sunny;
17         %put &season;
sunny
18         
19         %macro mn;
20         	%global weather;
21         	%let weather = rainy;
22         	%put &weather;
23         
24         	%local season;
25         	%let season = winter;
26         	%put &season;
27         data _null_;
28         put 'Inside macro';
29         if %symglobl(weather)
30         then put 'True';
31         else put 'False';
32         if %symlocal(season)
33         then put 'True';
34         else put 'False';
35         run;
36         %mend;
37         
38         %mn;
rainy
winter

Inside macro
True
True
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds
      

39         
40         data _null_;
41         put 'Outside macro';
42         if %symglobl(weather)
43         then put 'True';
44         else put 'False';
45         if %symlocal(season)
46         then put 'True';
47         else put 'False';
48         run;

Outside macro
True
False
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

&weather, that only exists as global, will report as global in both cases.

&season, which exists globally, but also locally to the macro, now reports as local in the macro and global outside.

As an aside:

keep in mind that the macro functions %symglobl and %symlocal are resolved by the macro processor before the data steps are compiled and executed, so the code of the data step will look like this:

data _null_;
put 'Inside macro';
if 1
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
if 0
then put 'True';
else put 'False';
run;

PS I removed the first version of this post, as I thought it contained a logical mistake. This one illustrates clearly what happens.

Make sure to run the example on a freshly started SAS instance, as pre-existing macro variables might change the results.

[GeethaMN]

Thanks a lot kurt by taking out your time to explain very elaborately. the concept is clear now.

Thanks,
Geetha