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SAS_inquisitive
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Here I have an example of using CALL EXECUTE. I wonder why the second code does not work when I omit the concatenation oeprator.  

data test;
input a $;
cards;
1
2
3
;

data _null_;
	set test end=last;
    call execute('proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='||a||'); run;');
run;

data test;
input a $;
cards;
1
2
3
;

data _null_;
	set test end=last;
    call execute('proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='a'); run;');
run;

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
RW9
Diamond | Level 26 RW9
Diamond | Level 26

The call execute function requires a string to be passed to it as its only parameter. This

'proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='a'); run;'

is not a string, it is two strings:

'proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='

'); run;'

and something undefined.  

Function form:

call execute(<string>);

By using the concatenate symbols you are creating one string out of the two given strings and the value held in the variable a.

 

One other thing, as a string in the dataset is given a length of 8 (as you didn't define it!) you may want to use cats:

data _null_;
  set test end=last;
  call execute(cats('proc print data=sashelp.class (obs=',a,'); run;'));
run;

This should remove any blanks around a.

 

 

 

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

This message:

ERROR 253-185: The EXECUTE subroutine call has too many arguments.

provides the answer.

CALL EXECUTE expects ONE argument of type character. You are supplying three: a string constant, a variable of type character, and another string constant.

Reeza
Super User

Because it isn't valid SAS code. The string isn't being created, there's no default concatenation. 

RW9
Diamond | Level 26 RW9
Diamond | Level 26

The call execute function requires a string to be passed to it as its only parameter. This

'proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='a'); run;'

is not a string, it is two strings:

'proc print data=sashelp.class (obs='

'); run;'

and something undefined.  

Function form:

call execute(<string>);

By using the concatenate symbols you are creating one string out of the two given strings and the value held in the variable a.

 

One other thing, as a string in the dataset is given a length of 8 (as you didn't define it!) you may want to use cats:

data _null_;
  set test end=last;
  call execute(cats('proc print data=sashelp.class (obs=',a,'); run;'));
run;

This should remove any blanks around a.

 

 

 

SAS_inquisitive
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Thank you, all. I was assuming I was creating a string by enclosing variable a in quotation marks.

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