SAS / Macro: Expected close parenthesis

[Kevin_Viel]

When I use the following in a macro, I get an ERROR: message:

3    %let list1 = a b ;
4    %let list2 = b c ;
5
6    %let list = "%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1. &list2.)))" ;
7    %put &list. ;
"a" , "b" , "b" , "c"
8
9
10
11   %macro tmp ;
12
13                    data __dedup ;
14                      do var = "%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.
14 !  &list2.)))" ;
ERROR: Expected close parenthesis after macro function invocation not found.
15                        if var ne " " then output ;
16                      end ;
17                    run ;
18   %mend ;
19
20
21   %tmp ;
ERROR: Expected close parenthesis after macro function invocation not found.

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
WARNING: The data set WORK.__DEDUP may be incomplete.  When this step was stopped there were 0
         observations and 1 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

I would appreciate any insight, references, or solutions.  Note that I remove single and double quotation marks in a prior step.  We are using "traditional" SAS variable names only, but that will make an interesting challenge to address.

Thank you,

Kevin

[ballardw]

What I strongly suspect is happening is that the DO  will accept character values in a list:

data example;
   do var= "A","B","X";
      output;
   end;
run;

So your

 do var = "%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.
14 !  &list2.)))" ;

is two pieces of text:

"%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str("

and

")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.&list2.)))"

So the 'functions' aren't closed /opened properly.

I can't tell what you are attempting to provide an alternate but question the need for the %str, or at least why it is there.

[Kevin_Viel]

Thank you for the response.

Consider this:

4229  %let list1 = a b ;
4230  %let list2 = b c ;
4231
4232  data __dedup ;
4233    do var = "%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1. &list2.)))" ;
4234      if var ne " " then put var= ;
4235    end ;
4236  run ;

var=a
var=b
var=b
var=c
NOTE: The data set WORK.__DEDUP has 1 observations and 1 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

I am taking a list of SAS variables and quoting them and placing commas between them.  A B will be "A" , "B".  I already removed possible quotation marks (single and double) and commas.  I need to mask the comma in the regex, so I used the %STR() function.  I am protecting against a user submitting the same variable in both lists, so I de-dup it.  I figured the SQL (or SORT) procedure has a trusted way, so I needed to put the variables as values of a variable in a SAS data set. This seemed like an obvious approach.  This must be an issue with the macro compiler, since it works fine above.

If I were to use SAS code and not macro, then the quotation mark would "protect" the comma:

4344  data __dedup ;
4345    var = prxchange( 's/\s+/" , "/'
4346                   , -1
4347                   , "A B"
4348                   ) ;
4349    put var= ;
4350  run ;

var=A" , "B
NOTE: The data set WORK.__DEDUP has 1 observations and 1 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

This, also, was perplexing (at least from my level of understanding):

4250  %let list1 = %sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.))) ;
4251  %put &list1. ;
a" , "b
4252
4253  %let list2 = %sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list2.))) ;
NOTE: Line generated by the macro function "SYSFUNC".
1      b" , "c
        -----
        49
NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS release.  Inserting white space
             between a quoted string and the succeeding identifier is recommended.

4254  %put &list2. ;
NOTE: Line generated by the macro variable "LIST2".
1      b" , "c
        -----
        49
b" , "c
NOTE 49-169: The meaning of an identifier after a quoted string might change in a future SAS release.  Inserting white space
             between a quoted string and the succeeding identifier is recommended.

Specifically, white space follows the double quotation mark; I purposefully inserted it.  Quizzically, the first statement does not generate the code.

Kind regards,

Kevin

[Tom · Accepted solution]

The error message is pretty straight forward. It is from SYSFUNC saying it did not see the double right parentheses you normally need in a expression like 

%sysfunc(sasfunc())

So why does it work in open code and fail in macro code?

Let's look at your %sysfunc() call:

"%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(" , ")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.    &list2.)))" 

The issue is that inside a macro the parsing is getting confused by have the quotes macro quoted.  So just remove those.  You only need to quote the comma.

"%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/" %str(,) "/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.    &list2.)))" ;

If you do want to use %STR() to macro quote the quotes then add % in front of each.

"%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%str(%" , %")/ , -1 , %nrbquote(&list1.    &list2.)))" 

Or use BQUOTE().  Also I am not sure why you are using NRBQUOTE() in the other place.

"%sysfunc( prxchange( s/\s+/%bquote(" , ")/ , -1 , %bquote(&list1.    &list2.)))" 

If you want to keep the issue in macro code then just make some deduping logic of your own.

%macro dedupvars(varlist);
%local newlist i newvar;
%do i=1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&varlist,%str( )));
  %let newvar=%scan(&varlist,&i,%str( ));
  %if not %sysfunc(indexw(%upcase(&newlist),%upcase(&newvar))) %then
    %let newlist=&newlist &newvar
  ;
%end;
&newlist.
%mend dedupvars;
%put %dedupvars(A b c a B C e);

[Kevin_Viel]

Tom,

  As usual, an excellent reply with plenty of educational points.  With more than 20 years of doing it, being wrong on the internet about SAS still stings 🙂

  I violated one of my rules: mask nothing more than required.

  I think that I used %NRBQUOTE() out of habit of quoting strings that might have, by bad practice, certain tokens, like % or &, even if the values might not be valid (I might have a error check for well-formed values at the beginning of a macro, but I carry it through).  Also, I read Ian Whitlock's quoting papers (and posts) periodically, but I should probably read them again.

  I like the elegance of your wholly macro approach to dedup the list.

Thank you,

Kevin