Run macro in less rows of code

[Ronein]

Hello,

Let's say that I want to run a macro and there are 9 runs.

Is there a clever way to run it in less code rows?

Please note that 1812/1806/1801 are dates in form YYMM.

%Dist(1812,Cars_Consume1812, "Cars_consume");
%dist(1806,Cars_Consume1806, "Cars_consume");
%dist(1801,Cars_Consume1801, "Cars_consume");

%dist(1812,cars_age1812, "cars age in years");
%dist(1806,cars_age1806, "cars age in years");
%dist(1801,cars_age1801, "cars age in years");

%dist(1812,Car_engine_size1812,  "Car Engine size");
%dist(1806,Car_engine_size1806,  "Car Engine size");
%dist(1801,Car_engine_size1801,  "Car Engine size");

[PaigeMiller]

I don't know what %DIST does, but I'm sure we have discussed putting your data into a good format for analysis. In particular, putting calendar information into variable names is a bad idea, which requires more coding effort, as you can see in this example. On the other hand, if your calendar YYMM was contained in a variable in the data set, you could use BY statements or something like PROC SUMMARY and then you don't even have to specify what months you want.

Is there a clever way to run it in less code rows?

Yes, arrange your data into a better format, then multiple analyses will be simple. Maxim 19. Maxim 33.

[Reeza]

Does your code go beyond what's shown? For 9 calls any more attempts at efficiency will likely be the same amount of code. 

[SASKiwi]

%macro Run_Dist (Dist_Type=);

%Dist(1812,Cars_Consume1812, "&Dist_Type");
%Dist(1806,Cars_Consume1806, "&Dist_Type");
%Dist(1801,Cars_Consume1801, "&Dist_Type");

%mend Run_Dist;

%Run_Dist (Dist_Type=Cars_consume);
%Run_Dist (Dist_Type=Cars age in years);
%Run_Dist (Dist_Type=Cars Engine size);