Resolving a Macro variable within Format within PROC DATA.

[braverju]

Dear everybody!

How can I refer to the dynamic name of the format?

Here is my situation:

%Macro myMacro (myVar);

   PROC FORMAT CNTLOUT= fmtdataset;
       VALUE &myVar 
          1 = 'Label1'
          2 = 'Label2'
      ;
  RUN;

  Data somedataset_formatted;

      set somedataset;

      FORMAT &myVar &myVar. ;   /*I also tried FORMAT &myVar "&myVar."; – get a syntax error message */

  RUN;

%Mend myMacro

When I call %myMacro (variableName) I get no errors. The file fmtdataset contains the appropriate format "variableName". However, in the dataset "somedataset" the variable variableName doesn't get formatted. If I replace the macro with values, i.e., 

FORMAT variableName variableName.  it works just fine.

Thank you very much

Julia

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

I think you need an extra period at the end of the format name. Periods are used to indicate the end of a macro variable, so the first one gets used by the macro variable and the second is for the format.

FORMAT &myVar &myVar.. ;

[braverju]

Hurray! It worked. Thank you very much!