What would you expect this code to do?
data _null_; set sashelp.class(obs=4) end=end; call execute ('/*'); call execute ('proc print data=sashelp.class;'); call execute ('where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'); call execute ('run;'); call execute ('*/;'); run;
Would you expect the proc print
s to occur?
No idea.
Why would you attempt to send block comments to CALL EXECUTE()? And if you did why in multiple function calls?
Write the code to a file if the goal is to produce a human readable code file. Then the block comments will work as expected when the file is sourced using %INCLUDE.
This code works to comment out the PROC PRINTs, but I don't think I can explain why this works while your original code doesn't.
data _null_;
set sashelp.class(obs=4) end=end;
call execute ('/%str(*)');
call execute ('proc print data=sashelp.class;');
call execute ('where name='||quote(trim(name))||';');
call execute ('run;');
call execute ('*/');
run;
Here is another one.
This works:
data _null_;
call execute('proc print data=sashelp.class;var');
call execute('name');
call execute('sex');
call execute(';run;');
run;
But if you send the exact same set of characters as one string it does not work since there is nothing between the variable names.
data _null_;
call execute('proc print data=sashelp.class;varnamesex;run;');
run;
Breaking the statements into multiple pieces has an impact on how it is parsed by SAS.
call execute's doc says: "Resolves the argument, and issues the resolved valuefor execution at the next step boundary."
so there is fair chance "something" is done with the text.
It looks a bit like all open comments are automatically "closed" at the end of the call, look at this:
data test;
set sashelp.class(obs=5);
run;
data _null_;
set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end;
call execute ('proc print /* data=sashelp.class; */ /* data _null_; set sashelp.class;');
call execute (';where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'); /* semicolon added at the beginning of the line*/
call execute ('run;');
call execute ('*/;');
run;
log says:
1 data test; 2 set sashelp.class(obs=5); 3 run; NOTE: There were 5 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS. NOTE: The data set WORK.TEST has 5 observations and 5 variables. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.00 seconds 4 5 data _null_; 6 set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end; 7 8 call execute ('proc print /* data=sashelp.class; */ /* data _null_; set sashelp.class;'); 9 call execute (';where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'); 10 call execute ('run;'); 11 call execute ('*/;'); 12 run; NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.00 seconds NOTE: CALL EXECUTE generated line. 1 + proc print 2 + ;where name="Alfred"; 3 + run; NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set WORK.TEST. WHERE name='Alfred'; NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.01 seconds 4 + */;
Here is another example that something is happening "at the end of call"
data _null_;
set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end;
call execute ('%nrstr(');
call execute ('/*');
call execute ('proc print data=sashelp.class;');
call execute ('where name='||quote(trim(name))||';');
call execute ('run;');
call execute ('*/;');
call execute (')');
run;
Log shows 2 errors:
1 data _null_; 2 set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end; 3 call execute ('%nrstr('); 4 call execute ('/*'); 5 call execute ('proc print data=sashelp.class;'); 6 call execute ('where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'); 7 call execute ('run;'); 8 call execute ('*/;'); 9 call execute (')'); 10 run; ERROR: Expected close parenthesis after macro function invocation not found. NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors. NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.00 seconds NOTE: CALL EXECUTE generated line. 2 + proc print data=sashelp.class; 3 + where name="Alfred"; 4 + run; NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS. WHERE name='Alfred'; NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.00 seconds 5 + */; NOTE: Line generated by the CALL EXECUTE routine. 6 + ) - 180 ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order.
All the best
Bart
P.S. Agree with @Tom 's suggestion to do it in one call:
something like:
data _null_;
set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end;
call execute ( " "
!! "/*"
!! 'proc print data=sashelp.class;'
!! 'where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'
!! 'run;'
!! '*/'
);
run;
such setup allows even for "cinditional" commenting out:
%let commentOut=1;
data _null_;
set sashelp.class(obs=1) end=end;
call execute ( " "
!! ifc(symgetn('commentOut'), "/*", " ")
!! 'proc print data=sashelp.class;'
!! 'where name='||quote(trim(name))||';'
!! 'run;'
!! '*/'
);
run;
Interesting. If you have Display Manager (PC SAS), you can submit code one statement at time, in some settings one token at a time. And sometimes it's instructive. This doesn't work with EG or I suspect Studio, because they're essentially doing batch submits and add wrapper code.
Forget CALL EXECUTE for a moment, if you code:
/*
proc print data=sashelp.class;
run ;
*/
And run the code one line at a time (so 4 code submissions), it will run the PROC PRINT step. And the last */ will not create an un-closed * comment.
My log looks like:
1 /* 2 proc print data=sashelp.class; 3 run ; NOTE: There were 19 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS. 4 */
So even without CALL EXECUTE, if you submit a just a /* token, SAS is automatically closing it. And if you submit just */, SAS is also automatically closing that * comment.
I don't know if there is a documented rule about SAS automatically closing a comment if you submit an un-closed comment. But it seems to be part of the SAS language, not CALL EXECUTE.
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