Multiple function in macro variable

[ChrisWoo]

May i know why my macro variable hit error =“ expected close parenthesis after macro function invocation not found”

I wanna get the value 04 assuming now is MAY2023

/*Here my code*/

%Let PrevMonth = %sysfunc (month(%sysfunc(today()))-1);

Proc sql;
Create table abc (date num format=z2.);
Insert into abc values (&PrevMonth);

[Reeza]

The -1 portion needs an %eval or equivalent type of function. 

[ballardw]

You have a -1 inside the outer call to %sysfunc. In effect:  %sysfunc(<some result> -1) and %sysfunc does not know how to use that.

Consider:

%Let PrevMonth = %sysfunc (month( %sysfunc( today() ) ));
%put Prevmonth here is: &prevmonth;

%let PrevMonth = %eval(%sysfunc (month( %sysfunc( today() ) )) -1);
%put PrevMonth here is: &prevmonth;

The macro language generally does not "do arithmetic" unless specifically called to with %eval (integers) or %sysevalf (decimals)

If you truly need 04 and not 4 then you need yet another step to place the 0.

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@ChrisWoo wrote:
May i know why my macro variable hit error =“ expected close parenthesis after macro function invocation not found”

I wanna get the value 04 assuming now is MAY2023

/*Here my code*/

%Let PrevMonth = %sysfunc (month(%sysfunc(today()))-1);

Proc sql;
Create table abc (date num format=z2.);
Insert into abc values (&PrevMonth);

---

[ChrisWoo]

Hi ballardw,

I got my value as 4 by using %eval, may I know what’s that additional step to make it 04? By formatting it ?

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

What happens in January? You'll get a 0....

%Let PrevMonth = %sysfunc(intnx(month, %sysfunc(today()), -1, s), mmddyy2.);

Use INTNX to move the date one month back.

Use Today to get the current date

SYSFUNC has a second parameter which is the format, use the mmddyy2 format to get just the month number with the leading zero. The 2, takes only the first two characters.

[ChrisWoo]

thanks mate. I was initially thinking to modify manually every January of the year.... haha

[Tom]

The macro language does not do arithmetic.  But %SYSFUNC() is pushing what you pass to SAS to run.  So you can use arithmetic in the arguments passed to the SAS functions by %SYSFUNC().

This function 

%put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ));

Will return the month number for yesterday instead of for today.

If you want it to add a leading zero when the month is before October then add the optional format specification to the outer %SYSFUNC() call.

9206   %put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ));
5
9207   %put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ),z2.);
05

[Tom]

Each %SYSFUNC call needs two right ).  One to end the function you are calling and one to end the %SYSFUNC call.

You have one in the wrong place.

Let's work our way from the innermost out.

%sysfunc(today())
%sysfunc(today())-1
%sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ))

[Tom]

Do you want the number of the month of the previous day?  That is what it looks like your code is trying to do.

%put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ),z2.);

Or do you want the number of the previous month? 

%put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(intnx(month, %sysfunc(today()) ,-1)) ),Z2.);

Results:

9211   %put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(today())-1 ),z2.);
05
9212   %put %sysfunc(month( %sysfunc(intnx(month, %sysfunc(today()) ,-1)) ),Z2.);
04