Call Macro in a Macro

[Michelle_]

Hi all, seeking help on how to write a macro to call another macro for different period.
I have different setting to run each month. Im wondering can I write a macro to auto repeat run the same macro. 

%macro repeat(n);
	%do i = 1 %to &n.;
		%if &i. = 1 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 4;
				%let lag 	= 2;
			%end;
		%if &i. = 2 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 7;
				%let lag 	= 2;
			%end;
		%if &i. = 3 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 4;
				%let lag 	= 1;
			%end;

		%month_setting;
		%setting;
	%end;
%mend;
%repeat(3); 

%macro month_setting;
    %global begin end;
	%if %sysevalf(&lag = 2) %then
		%do;
			%let begin 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)),-&month.),date9.)"d;
			%let end 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)), +&lag.),date9.)"d;
		%end;
	%else %if %sysevalf(&lag = 1) %then 
		%do;
			%let begin 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)),-&month.+1),date9.)"d;
			%let end 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)), +&lag.+1),date9.)"d;
		%end;		
	%let end_YM 	= %sysfunc(inputn(%sysfunc(substr(%sysfunc(putn(&end., yymmddn8.)),1, 6)), 6.));
	%let beg_YM 	= %sysfunc(inputn(%sysfunc(substr(%sysfunc(putn(&begin., yymmddn8.)),1, 6)), 6.));

%mend;

/*macro sample*/
%macro setting;
	Data working.M&Month._Setting;
		month 	= &month.;
		lag 	= &lag.;
		begin	= put(&begin.,yymmddn8.);
		end 	= put(&end.,yymmddn8.);
	run;
%mend;

[Tom]

Did you try the code?  Did it work?  If not what was wrong?

You can call another macro inside a macro.

But you have to have defined it before you try to CALL it.

So make sure to move the call to %REPEAT() to after the definition of all three macros.

[Michelle_]

No error pop up. 
It only able to run one times.  I have write %repeat(3). But, it only able to run &i.= 1

[Kurt_Bremser]

Run your macro with

options mprint mlogic symbolgen;

set and post the log.

[Michelle_]

Apologies. Can ignore the previous coding i asked. The issue seems like appear after the %datecreate macro. 
If only run until %setting then it works. However, when run one more macro (i.e. %datecreate) then it won't auto generate the second and third run. 
So, i have create delete specific global macro. 

%macro repeat(n);
	%do i = 1 %to &n.;
		%if &i. = 1 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 4;
				%let lag 	= 2;
			%end;
		%if &i. = 2 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 7;
				%let lag 	= 2;
			%end;
		%if &i. = 3 %then 
			%do;
				%let month 	= 4;
				%let lag 	= 1;
			%end;

		%month_setting;
		%setting;
		%datecreate;
		%deleteALL;
	%end;
%mend;
%repeat(3); 

%macro month_setting;
    %global begin end;
	%if %sysevalf(&lag = 2) %then
		%do;
			%let begin 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)),-&month.),date9.)"d;
			%let end 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)), +&lag.),date9.)"d;
		%end;
	%else %if %sysevalf(&lag = 1) %then 
		%do;
			%let begin 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)),-&month.+1),date9.)"d;
			%let end 		= "%sysfunc(intnx(month,%sysfunc(inputN(&period.01,yymmdd10.)), +&lag.+1),date9.)"d;
		%end;		
	%let end_YM 	= %sysfunc(inputn(%sysfunc(substr(%sysfunc(putn(&end., yymmddn8.)),1, 6)), 6.));
	%let beg_YM 	= %sysfunc(inputn(%sysfunc(substr(%sysfunc(putn(&begin., yymmddn8.)),1, 6)), 6.));

%mend;

/*macro sample*/
%macro setting;
	Data working.M&Month._Setting;
		month 	= &month.;
		lag 	= &lag.;
		begin	= put(&begin.,yymmddn8.);
		end 	= put(&end.,yymmddn8.);
	run;
%mend;


%macro datecreate;
	%global dif;
	%let dif = %sysfunc(intck(MONTH,&begin,&end)); 
		%do i= 1 %to &dif;
			%global date_&i;

			%let date_&i=%sysfunc(intnx(month,&begin,&i,B),yymmn6.);
			%put &&date_&i;
		%end;
%mend;


%macro deleteALL;
 
   	options nonotes;

  	%local vars;
 
  	proc sql noprint;
      	    select name into: vars separated by ' '
         	  from dictionary.macros
            	      where scope = 'GLOBAL' and (name contains 'DATE_' or name in ('MONTH', 'LAG', 'BEGIN','END', 'BEG_YM', 'END_YM', 'DIF'));
   	quit;

   	%symdel &vars;
 
   	options notes;
 
    	%put NOTE: Macro variables deleted.;
 
%mend;

But, the above coding not working also. It didn't pop any errors. However, it will not generate the results for Month 7  + Lag 2 and Month 4 + lag 1. 

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Sloppy macro programming. Always (as in ALWAYS) define variables used in the macro as local (%LOCAL statement).

Your macro datecreate uses i for the loop, which is also used in repeat; after returning from datecreate, &i will have a large enough value to terminate the loop in repeat.

[Quentin]

Kurt has identified the problem, I want to share an example.  Suppose you have macros OUTER and INNER where OUTER invokes INNER.  You want to have OUTER loop 2 times, and INNER loop 3 times per iteration of OUTER. 

If you code it like:

%macro outer(n=) ;
  %do i=1 %to &n ;
    %put %nrstr(%%)&sysmacroname ;
    %put _user_ ;
    %put ;

    %inner(n=3) ;

  %end ;
%mend outer ;

%macro inner(n=) ;
  %do i=1 %to &n ;  
    %put %nrstr(%%)&sysmacroname ;
    %put _user_ ;
    %put ;
  %end ;
%mend inner ;

%outer(n=2)

Your log will show that OUTER is loops once, not twice as intended.  This is the problem you're having:

22   %outer(n=2)
%OUTER
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER N 3
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER N 3
OUTER I 2
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER N 3
OUTER I 3
OUTER N 2

When OUTER executes, it creates the macro variables i and N.  

When INNER executes, it creates a new macro variable N which is a different macro variable than the variable N which exists in outer.  It does this because N is defined as macro parameter to INNER.

But when the %DO loop in INNER executes, it does NOT create a new macro variable i for INNER.  Instead it uses the macro variable i that already exists in OUTER. So this is a naming collision.  INNER has changed the values of a macro variable that belongs to OUTER.  And because INNER loops three times, you end up with the macro variable i having the value of 3.  Then the %DO loop in OUTER does not loop a second time, because i is already 3.

The way to avoid this problem is to declare the macro variable i to be local in INNER.  That way when INNER executes, the %LOCAL statement will create a new local macro variable i for INNER that is separate from the macro variable i in OUTER.

%macro outer(n=) ;
  %local i ;
  %do i=1 %to &n ;
    %put %nrstr(%%)&sysmacroname ;
    %put _user_ ;
    %put ;

    %inner(n=3) ;

  %end ;
%mend outer ;

%macro inner(n=) ;
  %local i;
  %do i=1 %to &n ;  
    %put %nrstr(%%)&sysmacroname ;
    %put _user_ ;
    %put ;
  %end ;
%mend inner ;

%outer(n=2)

Log:

22   %outer(n=2)
%OUTER
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 1
INNER N 3
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 2
INNER N 3
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 3
INNER N 3
OUTER I 1
OUTER N 2

%OUTER
OUTER I 2
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 1
INNER N 3
OUTER I 2
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 2
INNER N 3
OUTER I 2
OUTER N 2

%INNER
INNER I 3
INNER N 3
OUTER I 2
OUTER N 2

With that, outer loops two times, so you get the expected 2*3=6 executions of INNER.  And you can see in the log that the macro variables i and N in INNER are independent of the macro variables i and N in OUTER.

[yabwon]

you can do it much simpler and much more readable using data step:

libname working (work);

%macro setting(period, i);

data working.P&period._Setting;

  period = input(cats(symget('period'),'01'),yymmdd8.);
  i = symgetn("i");

  select(i);
    when(1) 
      do;
        month = 4;
        lag   = 2;
      end;
    when(2) 
      do;
        month = 7;
        lag   = 2;
      end;
    when(3) 
      do;
        month = 4;
        lag   = 2;
      end;
    otherwise put "ERROR: I should be in 1, 2, 3.";
  end;

  select(lag);
    when(2)
      do;
        b = intnx("month", period,-month);
        e = intnx("month", period, +lag);
      end;
    when(1)
      do;
        b = intnx("month", period,-month+1);
        e = intnx("month", period, +lag+1);
      end;
    otherwise put "ERROR: LAG shoild be  in 1, 2.";
  end; 

  begin	= put(b,yymmddn8.);
  end 	= put(e,yymmddn8.);


  /* you didnot used those 2 in the code at all */
	beg_YM 	= put(b,yymmn6.);
  end_YM 	= put(e,yymmn6.);




  keep month lag begin end beg_YM end_YM ;
run;

%mend;



%setting(202308, 1)
proc print;
run;

%setting(202308, 2)
proc print;
run;

%setting(202308, 3)
proc print;
run;

Bart