Using defined formats with sas gpaths

[Anita_n]

Hello,

I have defined a proc format  and a macro which looks for example like below. I want myfolder  on my gpath to be replaced with the defined formats. For example format &myfolder  $folder.;

proc format library = ft;
value $folder
        'foldernameA'= 'foldername A containing books'
        'foldernameB'= 'foldernameB containing pencils'
;
run;



%macro gdesign (myfie, myfolder);


***********some sas codes*****************;

ods listing gpath= "C:\graphs\&myfolder ";

***********some sas codes*****************;

%mend gdesign;

%gdesign(folder1,foldernameA);
%gdesign(folder1, foldernameB);

If I place this on the gpath ( like this:

ods listing gpath= "C:\graphs\format &myfolder $folder. ";

) I get an error

Is there any way to do that?

[RW9]

That is not really the place for formats, formats are applied to Data in Datasets.  You could fool it by using combinations of sysfunc and functins, but there really is no need.  You would use macro to do this kind of find/replace e.g (and you need to supply a concrete example of input/output for exact code):

%gdesign(folder1,foldername A containing books);
%gdesign(folder1,foldername B containing pencils);

[Anita_n]

Thanks this worked fine. The only problem I still have is that . I need to use this in many macros,  that means I have to type in this long name always. I wish to store this in a variable so that if I call the variable it outputs foldername A contain books

Is there any way out

[RW9]

Yes, instead of having it as a parameter, just put at the top of your program:

%let fname=folder with pencils;

And then use &fname. throughout your other code, to change it, just change that one line.

[Anita_n]

Thanks a lot for that