How to insert macrovariable with quotes into data set

[filippo_kow]

 Hi guys,

I have a quite simple problem, but I don't have a clue how can I solve it.

I have a macrovariable that contains quotes and ampersand (I need it for the excel file). Take a look at this code:

%macro x;

	/* ... */

	%let string = "This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string";
	%put &=string;

	data x;
		a=&string;
	run;

%mend;
%x;

But the problem is that I don't know how can I add such a string into data set (data x in my sample code). Does anyone have any idea?

 Thanks!
 Filip

[yabwon · Accepted solution]

a=symget('string');

[data_null__]

SYMGET

49         %let string = "This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string";
50         %put &=string;
STRING="This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string"
51         
52         data a;
53            x = symget('STRING');
54            put 'NOTE: ' x=;
55            run;

NOTE: x="This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string"

[Kurt_Bremser]

Use the SYMGET function:

data x;
a = symget("string");
run;

If you don't want a length of 200 for your new variable, use a LENGTH statement before the assignment.

[filippo_kow]

 Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your replies, that works perfectly! 🙂

 Best,

 Filip

[Quentin]

An aleternative to using symget (a DATA step function  that will execute once per iteration of the loop), would be to use a macro quoting function, such as %superq, e.g.:

1    %let string = "This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string";
2    %put &=string;
STRING="This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string"
3
4    data x;
5      a="%superq(string)";
6      put a= ;
7    run;

a="This is sample string" & char(10) & "This is second line of sample string"
NOTE: The data set WORK.X has 1 observations and 1 variables.