Macro variable resolved but says variable not initialiesd in next data step?

[Ruhi]

Hi, 

I created a macro variable using call symput but I am unable to use its value in next step. I have looked at similar examples but I can't figure out the issue. Any help is very much appreciated. So all other macro varaibles except &CR were provided my macro statement and resolve well and are decoded by fitstats1 data really well but CR is coming as CR1 not resolved. Log:

295 %put &cr;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CR resolves to CR1
CR1
296 options symbolgen;
297 data fitstats1;
298 set fitstats1;
299 id=&id;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable ID resolves to "BZ01"
300 Landmark=&ldmk;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable LDMK resolves to "L2"
301 side=&side;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable SIDE resolves to "R"
302 PushNum=&cycle;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CYCLE resolves to 1
303 Model=1;
304 year=&year;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable YEAR resolves to 2013
305 CR= &CR;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CR resolves to CR1
306 run;

NOTE: Variable CR1 is uninitialized.

data _null_;
set &d2;
if _n_ =1 then call symput("CR",RM);
run;
%put &CR;
ods exclude all;
proc glm data= force1;
	model force= disp /ss3 noint;
	ods output FitStatistics=fitstats1 ParameterEstimates=Pestimate1;
run;
options symbolgen;
data fitstats1;
	set fitstats1;
	id=&id;
	Landmark=&ldmk;
	side=&side;
	PushNum=&cycle;
	Model=1;
	year=&year;
	CR= &CR;
run;

Print of fitstats1 

Obs	Dependent	RSquare	CV	RootMSE	DepMean	id	Landmark	side	PushNum	Model	year	CR	CR1
1	force	0.988213	13.71906	1.318715	9.612285	BZ01	L2	R	1	1	2013	.	.

[Ruhi]

I resolved my problem by adding quotes around like this, CR= "&CR"; But I would like to understand why this happened. If anyone can help.

Thanks.

[VDD]

because &CR macro is called outside of data step and is global. 

[Kurt_Bremser]

---

@Ruhi wrote:

I resolved my problem by adding quotes around like this, CR= "&CR"; But I would like to understand why this happened. If anyone can help.

Thanks.

---

Look at the symbolgen messages for ID, LDMK and SIDE. They all contain the quotes tha are needed where they are used. CR does not contain quotes.

Since having quotes in macro variables often causes problems, I would define all those variables without quotes and wrap them in double quotes where needed.

[Astounding]

Examine the SAS statement generated in each case.

When your program generates:

CR = "CR1" ;

it assigns three-character string to the data step variable CR.

When the program generates:

CR = CR1 ;

the program copies from the nonexistent variable CR1 to CR.