@braam:
In the SAS days of yore, this kind of functionality was served with so-called old-style macros. Basically, they work similarly to %include, but instead of pointing to an external program file, you call a piece of the program identified by the old-style macro name. Needless to say, these things still work (note that the old-style macro names are limited to 8 characters, plus there're other limitations). For example:
option macrogen ;
macro MAIN ;
data new ;
set &data ;
run ;
%
%let data = sashelp.class ;
MAIN
%let data = sashelp.cars ;
MAIN
Here's what you see in the log:
1820 macro MAIN ;
1821 data new ;
1822 set &data ;
1823 run ;
1824 %
1825
1826 %let data = sashelp.class ;
1827
1828 MAIN
NOTE: The old-style macro MAIN is beginning resolution.
1829 + ;
1830 +data new ;
1831 + set &data ;
1832 +run ;
NOTE: There were 19 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS.
NOTE: The data set WORK.NEW has 19 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.00 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds
NOTE: The old-style macro MAIN is ending resolution.
1833
1834 %let data = sashelp.cars ;
1835
1836 MAIN
NOTE: The old-style macro MAIN is beginning resolution.
1837 + ;
1838 +data new ;
1839 + set &data ;
1840 +run ;
NOTE: There were 428 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CARS.
NOTE: The data set WORK.NEW has 428 observations and 15 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.00 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds
NOTE: The old-style macro MAIN is ending resolution.
he MACROGEN option causes the appearance of the "+" lines in the log; basically, it's like using SOURCE2 with %include. Its advantage over MPRINT is that if you have a run-time error, the log will point to the actual line where it occurred rather than at the line where the macro was invoked (as with the current-style macros). Another advantage is that DATA steps with CARDS (LINES, DATALINES) are also acceptable. Essentially an old-style macro is nothing but copy-and-paste.
Kind regards
Paul D.
