Have troubles with data type conversions

[IgorR]

Hi,
I have this code, where I need to change manually only the variable "l_bal_date" and other variables are calculated by the program:

/* Current balance variables */
%let l_bal_date='01sep2023'd;
%let vMonth     = %sysfunc(Month(&l_bal_date), z2.);
%let vYear_2d   = %sysfunc(PUTN(&l_bal_date, year2.), 2.);
%let vYear_4d   = %sysfunc(PUTN(&l_bal_date, year4.), 4.);
%let maz_date   = &vmonth.&vYear_2d;
%let mazan_path = &vYear_4d.-&vMonth;
%let file       = new_&vYear_4d.&vMonth;
%let file_new   = &file;
%let file_date  = &vYear_4d.&vMonth;
%let date_re    = &file_date;
%let sheet_name = "&maz_date";

After that I have this code:

/*Previous balance Dates */
%Let Prev_bal_date  = intnx('month', &Prev_bal_date, -3, 'b');
%let vMonth_prev    = %sysfunc(Month(&Prev_bal_date), z2.);
%let vYear_prev_2d  = %sysfunc(PUTN(&Prev_bal_date, year2.), 2.);
%let vYear_prev_4d  = %sysfunc(PUTN(&Prev_bal_date, year4.), 4.);
%let prev_maz_date  = &vMonth_prev.&vYear_prev_2d;
%let file_name="\\Folder\results_sas_final_movement_&vMonth_prev.-&maz_date.";
%let file_name_movement="\\Folder\results_sas_final_movement_meforat_&vMonth_prev.-&maz_date.";

Second part of the code returns Error:

56         /*Previous balance Dates */
57         %Let Prev_bal_date  = intnx('month', &Prev_bal_date, -3, 'b');
58         %let vMonth_prev    = %sysfunc(Month(&Prev_bal_date), z2.);
ERROR: Argument 1 to function MONTH referenced by the %SYSFUNC or %QSYSFUNC macro function is not a number.
ERROR: Invalid arguments detected in %SYSCALL, %SYSFUNC, or %QSYSFUNC argument list.  Execution of %SYSCALL statement or %SYSFUNC 
       or %QSYSFUNC function reference is terminated.
59         %let vYear_prev_2d  = %sysfunc(PUTN(&Prev_bal_date, year2.), 2.);
ERROR: Argument 1 to function PUTN referenced by the %SYSFUNC or %QSYSFUNC macro function is not a number.
ERROR: Invalid arguments detected in %SYSCALL, %SYSFUNC, or %QSYSFUNC argument list.  Execution of %SYSCALL statement or %SYSFUNC 
       or %QSYSFUNC function reference is terminated.
60         %let vYear_prev_4d  = %sysfunc(PUTN(&Prev_bal_date, year4.), 4.);
ERROR: Argument 1 to function PUTN referenced by the %SYSFUNC or %QSYSFUNC macro function is not a number.
ERROR: Invalid arguments detected in %SYSCALL, %SYSFUNC, or %QSYSFUNC argument list.  Execution of %SYSCALL statement or %SYSFUNC 
       or %QSYSFUNC function reference is terminated.
61         %let prev_maz_date  = &vMonth_prev.&vYear_prev_2d;
62         
63         %let file_name="\\Folder\results_sas_final_movement_&vMonth_prev.-&maz_date.";
64         %let file_name_movement="\\Folder\results_sas_final_movement_meforat_&vMonth_prev.-&maz_date.";

The Question:

What I'm doing wrong and what I have to do to get "file_name" and "file_name_movement" with dates instead of variable names?

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

%Let Prev_bal_date  = intnx('month', &Prev_bal_date, -3, 'b');

Macro commands like %let cannot use INTNX, unless it is within %SYSFUNC.  Also, within %SYSFUNC you don't put quotes around text. So this might work

%Let Prev_bal_date  = %sysfunc(intnx(month, &Prev_bal_date, -3, b));

but still there are problems since &prev_bal_date doesn't seem to have been assigned a value. So it won't work unless &prev_bal_date has been assigned a value (in code you have not shown us), and then &prev_bal_date MUST be a valid SAS date value.

Also, get out of the habit of treating dates as strings that have to be pulled apart and combined into desirable appearances. 

%let maz_date   = &vmonth.&vYear_2d;

is an example of pulling a string apart and combining it, and is unnecessary. If you have a macro variable with a valid SAS date value, you can obtain MMYY with the proper format applied to the macro variable with a valid SAS date value. So this would work

%let l_bal_date=%sysevalf('01sep2023'd); /* &L_BAL_DATE is a valid SAS date */
%let maz_date=%sysfunc(putn(&l_bal_date,mmyyn4.)); /* Use format on valid SAS date value */

and now &maz_date is equal to 0923 without pulling strings apart and recombining them.

[IgorR]

Thank you!

It was very helpful.

The purpose of the code I provided  is to build names of files to export data from my datasets (in very old SAS program that I'm trying to improve step by step).

Till now I had to input every file name manually, and now I'm doing it automatically, based on single variable with date type.

But I still confused about difference between:

%let Var = 0923 and %let Var = "0923".

Which format is preferable to use within strings?

[Tom]

---

@IgorR wrote:

Thank you!

It was very helpful.

The purpose of the code I provided  is to build names of files to export data from my datasets (in very old SAS program that I'm trying to improve step by step).

Till now I had to input every file name manually, and now I'm doing it automatically, based on single variable with date type.

But I still confused about difference between:

%let Var = 0923 and %let Var = "0923".

Which format is preferable to use within strings?

---

It depends on how you want to USE the value the of the macro variable.

If you want to use it directly to generate part of string, such when building a filename, then you don't want the quotes in the value.

%let var=0923;
filename indata "/mydir/myprefix&var..txt";

If you want to use to generate SAS code then the quotes might make it easier.  Since the quoted digits will look like a string literal to SAS, but the unquoted digits would look like a number.

%let var="0923";
data want;
  length fname $200;
  fname=cats('/mydir/myprefix',&var,'.txt');
  infile indate filevar=fname ;
...

[Tom]

You passed the MONTH() function a string that started with the letters intnx.  It was expecting a numeric date value.

I suspect you wanted the macro processor to actually run the INTNX() function instead of just building a string that could by used to generate SAS code that would run that function.

You already appear familiar with using %SYSFUNC() to run SAS functions in macro code, so just do it here also.

%Let Prev_bal_date  = %sysfunc(intnx(month, &Prev_bal_date, -3, b));