SAS OnDemand not letting me export as CSV or Excel files

[Kelly_K]

I am trying to export a dataset of multiple NHANES variables along with their codes and frequencies that I assembled in SAS using SAS OnDemand for Academics.  I've tried the following coding but in both instances nothing is appearing in the designated folder despite no error code appearing in the log.  

Approach #1: 

%CreateDataDictionary(lib=work, data=nhanes_demo, out=nhanes_dict);

ods excel file="/home/u58028236/myfolders/nhanes_dict.xlsx" options(sheet_name="Data Dictionary");

proc print data=nhanes_dict noobs label;
run;

ods excel close;

Approach #2:

PROC EXPORT
data=data_dict_labeled
outfile="/home/u58028236/Data Dictionary/test.csv"
DBMS=csv
replace;
run;

Are there errors in my code?  Does SAS OnDemand for Academics not allow this function?  Note that I've tried exporting to both a folder on my desk top and a folder in the SAS OnDemand folder Academics cloud.  Nothing seems to work.

[ballardw]

What does the LOG show when you run these codes? 

It is usually best to include LOG of code you are asking about. Copy the text from the log including all the messages or notes. Then on the forum open a text box clicking on the </> icon above the main message window and paste the text. The log will often show why no output was created.

My first suspect would be to double check and see if the data set Nhanes_dict was created and has any observations.

[Kelly_K]

After reading your response and re-reviewing my code, I'm starting to think the problem may be an error in the code that created the dataset I am trying to export, but I still can't figure out what it might be.  I've included both the code (pared down to two variables for the sake of brevity) and the log.

********************************************************************************;
*RENAME VARIABLES IN A NEW DATASET												;
********************************************************************************;

data work.data_dict;
	/*Rename variables*/
    set work.data_all(rename=(
        sddsrvyr = cycle
        ridstatr = status
        riagendr = sex
        ridreth1 = race_eth
        dmdmartl = marital
    ));   
run;


********************************************************************************;
*GENERATE FREQUENCIES															;
********************************************************************************;

*INTERVIEW AND MEC STATUS;
/* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
  tables cycle * status / out=freq_status(drop=percent);
run;

/* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
data freq_status;
  length variable $32;
  set freq_status(rename=(status = value count = count));
  variable = "status";
run;

/* Step 3: View or export */
proc print data=freq_status; title "Frequencies for status by cycle"; run;


*SEX;
/* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
  tables cycle * sex / out=freq_sex(drop=percent);
run;

/* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
data freq_sex;
  length variable $32;
  set freq_sex(rename=(sex = value count = count));
  variable = "sex";
run;

/* Step 3: View or export */
proc print data=freq_sex; title "Frequencies for sex by cycle"; run;




*RACE-ETHNICITY;
/* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
  tables cycle * race_eth / out=freq_race_eth(drop=percent);
run;

/* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
data freq_race_eth;
  length variable $32;
  set freq_race_eth(rename=(race_eth = value count = count));
  variable = "race_eth";
run;

/* Step 3: View or export */
proc print data=freq_race_eth; title "Frequencies for race_eth by cycle"; run;




********************************************************************************;
*ADD VALUE LABELS TO CODES														;
********************************************************************************;

*DEFINE THE FORMATS;

proc format;

  value cyclef
  	5 = "2007-08"
  	6 = "2009-10"
  	7 = "2011-12"
  	8 = "2013-14"
  	9 = "2015-16"
  	10 = "2017-18";
  
  value statusf
    1 = "Interviewed only"
    2 = "Both interviewed and MEC examined";

  value sexf
    1 = "Male"
    2 = "Female";

  value race_ethf
    1 = "Mexican American"
    2 = "Other Hispanic"
    3 = "Non-Hispanic White"
    4 = "Non-Hispanic Black"
    5 = "Other Race - Including Multi-Racial";

run;

*APPLY THE FORMATS;

data work.data_dict_labeled;
  set work.data_dict;
  format
    cycle			cyclef.
    status			statusf.
    sex				sexf.
    race_eth		race_ethf.
    ;
run;

*****************************************************************************************;
*Create a combined long-format frequency table of multiple variables by survey cycle	*;
*	that include the NHANES cycle, name, values, and frequency counts for each variable *;																	*;
*****************************************************************************************;


*Step 1: Create a global macro variable (&vars) with the list of variables being processed;
%let vars = status sex race_eth;


*Step 2: Create an empty output table;
data all_freqs;
  length cycle 8 variable $32 value $100 count 8;
  stop;
run;

*Step 3: Define the macro to loop over variables;
%macro freq_by_cycle; 
  %local i vars;
 
*Step 4: Loop through the variable list;
%let i = 1;
%do %while(%scan(&vars, &i) ne ); 
    %let var = %scan(&vars, &i);

*Step 5:  Create a frequency table;
proc freq data=work.data_dict_labeled noprint;
	tables cycle * &vars / out=freq_temp(drop=percent);
run;

*Step 6: Reshape the output;
data freq_temp;
	set freq_temp;
      length variable $32 value $100;
      variable = "&vars";
      value = vvaluex(symget("vars"));
      keep cycle variable value count;
run;

*Step 7: Append the result;
proc append base=all_freqs data=freq_temp force; run;

*Step 8: Finish the loop;
    %let i = %eval(&i + 1);
  %end;
%mend freq_by_cycle;

*Step 9: Run the macro;
%freq_by_cycle;


*EXPORT THE NEW DATASET;
%CreateDataDictionary(lib=work, data=data_dict_labeled, out=nhanes_dict);
ods excel file="/home/u58028236/myfolders/nhanes_dict.xlsx" options(sheet_name="Data Dictionary");
proc print data=nhanes_dict noobs label;
run;
ods excel close;




proc export data=all_freqs
    outfile="~/myfolders/freq_status.csv"
    dbms=csv
    replace;
run;

 
 1          OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 2          TITLE;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 3          FOOTNOTE;
 4          OPTIONS LOCALE=en_US DFLANG=LOCALE;
 5          DATA _NULL_;
 6          RUN;
 7          OPTIONS VALIDVARNAME=ANY;
 8          OPTIONS VALIDMEMNAME=EXTEND;
 86         &GRAPHTERM; ;*';*";*/;RUN;QUIT;
                          _________________
                          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.
 
 9          FILENAME _HTMLOUT TEMP;
 10         FILENAME _GSFNAME TEMP;
 11         FILENAME _DATAOUT TEMP;
 12         %LET SYSCC=0;
 13         %LET _CLIENTAPP='SAS Studio';
 14         %LET _CLIENTAPPABREV=Studio;
 15         %LET _CLIENTAPPVERSION=3.81;
 16         %LET _CLIENTVERSION=3.81;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 17         %LET _CLIENTMODE=wip;
 18         %LET _SASSERVERNAME=%BQUOTE(SASApp);
 19         %LET _SASHOSTNAME=%BQUOTE(odaws01-usw2);
 20         %LET _SASPROGRAMFILEHOST=%BQUOTE(odaws01-usw2);
 21         %LET _CLIENTUSERID=%BQUOTE(u58028236);
 22         %LET _CLIENTUSERNAME=%BQUOTE(u58028236);
 23         %LET CLIENTMACHINE=%BQUOTE(71.178.159.63);
 24         %LET _CLIENTMACHINE=%BQUOTE(71.178.159.63);
 25         %let SASWORKLOCATION="%sysfunc(getoption(work))/";
 26         FILENAME _CWD '.'
                            _
                            49
 26       ! ;
 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.
 
 27         DATA _NULL_;
 28         CALL SYMPUT('_SASWORKINGDIR',PATHNAME('_CWD'));
                                       ____________
                                       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.
 
 29         RUN;
 30         FILENAME _CWD;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 31         
 32         %LET _SASPROGRAMFILE = %NRQUOTE(%NRSTR(/home/u58028236/Replications/Bhargava_2025/Data
 32       ! Dictionary/Data_Dictionary_SAS_Code_abbreviated.sas));
 33         %LET _BASEURL = %BQUOTE(https://odamid-usw2.oda.sas.com/SASStudio/);
 28         CALL SYMPUT('_SASWORKINGDIR',PATHNAME('_CWD'));
                                                       ____
                                                       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.
 
 34         %LET _EXECENV=SASStudio;
 35         DATA _NULL_;
 36         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHINIT","");
 37         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHTERM","");
 38         RC=TSLVL('SASXGOPT','N');
 39         _ERROR_=0;
 40         IF (RC^=' ') THEN DO;
 41         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHINIT","GOPTIONS RESET=ALL GSFNAME=_GSFNAME;");
 42         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHTERM","GOPTIONS NOACCESSIBLE;");
 43         END;
 44         RUN;
 45         DATA _NULL_;
 46         RC=SYSPROD("PRODNUM002");
 47         IF (RC^=1) THEN DO;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 48         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHINIT","");
 49         CALL SYMPUT("GRAPHTERM","");
 50         END;
 51         RUN;
 52         %LET _DATAOUT_MIME_TYPE=;
 53         %LET _DATAOUT_NAME=;
 54         %LET _DATAOUT_TABLE=;
 55         %LET _DATAOUT_URL=;
 56         %SYMDEL _DATAOUT_MIME_TYPE _DATAOUT_NAME _DATAOUT_URL _DATAOUT_TABLE;
 57         %LET _SASWS_ = %BQUOTE(/home/u58028236);
 40         IF (RC^=' ') THEN DO;
                      ___________
                      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.
 
 58         %LET _SASWSTEMP_=%BQUOTE(/home/u58028236/.sasstudio/.images/73bf4c39-6975-4bd6-9304-c7206d68048f);
 59         ODS LISTING CLOSE;
 60         ODS AUTONAVIGATE OFF;
 61         ODS GRAPHICS ON;
 62         ODS HTML5 (ID=WEB) DEVICE=PNG GPATH="&_SASWSTEMP_" ENCODING=utf8  FILE=_HTMLOUT (TITLE='Results:
 62       ! Data_Dictionary_SAS_Code_abbreviated.sas') STYLE=Htmlblue OPTIONS(BITMAP_MODE='INLINE' OUTLINE='ON' SVG_MODE='INLINE'
                                                    _______________________________________      ___________  ____________
                                                    49                                           49           49
 62       ! CSS_PREFIX='.ods_73bf4c39-6975-4bd6-9304-c7206d68048f' BODY_ID='div_73bf4c39-6975-4bd6-9304-c7206d68048f' );
 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.
 
 63         &GRAPHINIT;
 64         OPTIONS FIRSTOBS=1;
 65         OPTIONS OBS=MAX;
 66         OPTIONS DTRESET DATE NUMBER NOTES;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 67         %put %bquote(NOTE: ODS statements in the SAS Studio environment may disable some output features.);
 68         OPTIONS NOTES STIMER SOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 69         
 70         data work.data_dict;
 71         /*Rename variables*/
 72             set work.data_all(rename=(
 73                 sddsrvyr = cycle
 74                 ridstatr = status
 75                 riagendr = sex
 76                 ridreth1 = race_eth
 77                 dmdmartl = marital
 78             ));
 79         run;
 80         
 81         
 82         ********************************************************************************;
 83         *GENERATE FREQUENCIES;
 84         ********************************************************************************;
 85         
 86         
 87         *INTERVIEW AND MEC STATUS;
 88         
 89         /* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
 90         proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
 91           tables cycle * status / out=freq_status(drop=percent);
 92         run;
 93         
 94         /* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
 95         data freq_status;
 96           length variable $32;
 97           set freq_status(rename=(status = value count = count));
 98           variable = "status";
 99         run;
 100        
 101        /* Step 3: View or export */
 102        proc print data=freq_status; title "Frequencies for status by cycle"; run;
 103        
 104        
 105        *SEX;
 106        
 107        /* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
 108        proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
 109          tables cycle * sex / out=freq_sex(drop=percent);
 110        run;
 111        
 112        /* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
 113        data freq_sex;
 114          length variable $32;
 115          set freq_sex(rename=(sex = value count = count));
 116          variable = "sex";
 117        run;
 118        
 119        /* Step 3: View or export */
 120        proc print data=freq_sex; title "Frequencies for sex by cycle"; run;
 121        
 122        
 123        
 124        
 125        *RACE-ETHNICITY;
 126        
 127        /* Step 1: Frequency of variable by cycle */
 128        proc freq data=work.data_dict noprint;
 129          tables cycle * race_eth / out=freq_race_eth(drop=percent);
 130        run;
 131        
 132        /* Step 2: Standardize and add variable name */
 133        data freq_race_eth;
 134          length variable $32;
 135          set freq_race_eth(rename=(race_eth = value count = count));
 136          variable = "race_eth";
 137        run;
 138        
 139        /* Step 3: View or export */
 140        proc print data=freq_race_eth; title "Frequencies for race_eth by cycle"; run;
 141        
 142        
 143        
 144        
 145        ********************************************************************************;
 146        *ADD VALUE LABELS TO CODES;
 147        ********************************************************************************;
 148        
 149        *DEFINE THE FORMATS;
 150        
 151        proc format;
 152        
 153          value cyclef
 154          5 = "2007-08"
 155          6 = "2009-10"
 156          7 = "2011-12"
 157          8 = "2013-14"
 158          9 = "2015-16"
 159          10 = "2017-18";
 160        
 161          value statusf
 162            1 = "Interviewed only"
 163            2 = "Both interviewed and MEC examined";
 164        
 165          value sexf
 166            1 = "Male"
 167            2 = "Female";
 168        
 169          value race_ethf
 170            1 = "Mexican American"
 171            2 = "Other Hispanic"
 172            3 = "Non-Hispanic White"
 173            4 = "Non-Hispanic Black"
 174            5 = "Other Race - Including Multi-Racial";
 175        
 176        run;
 177        
 178        *APPLY THE FORMATS;
 179        
 180        data work.data_dict_labeled;
 181          set work.data_dict;
 182          format
 183            cyclecyclef.
 184            statusstatusf.
 185            sexsexf.
 186            race_ethrace_ethf.
 187            ;
 188        run;
 189        
 190        *****************************************************************************************;
 191        *Create a combined long-format frequency table of multiple variables by survey cycle*;
 192        *that include the NHANES cycle, name, values, and frequency counts for each variable *;*;
 193        *****************************************************************************************;
 194        
 195        
 196        *Step 1: Create a global macro variable (&vars) with the list of variables being processed;
 197        %let vars = status sex race_eth;
 198        
 199        
 200        *Step 2: Create an empty output table;
 201        data all_freqs;
 202          length cycle 8 variable $32 value $100 count 8;
 203          stop;
 204        run;
 205        
 206        *****************************************************************************************;
 207        *MACRO;
 208        *Step 3: Define the macro to loop over variables;
 209        %macro freq_by_cycle;
 210          %local i vars;
 211        
 212        *Step 4: Loop through the variable list;
 213        %let i = 1;
 214        %do %while(%scan(&vars, &i) ne );
 215            %let var = %scan(&vars, &i);
 216        
 217        *Step 5:  Create a frequency table;
 218        proc freq data=work.data_dict_labeled noprint;
 219        tables cycle * &vars / out=freq_temp(drop=percent);
 220        run;
 221        
 222        *Step 6: Reshape the output;
 223        data freq_temp;
 224        set freq_temp;
 225              length variable $32 value $100;
 226              variable = "&vars";
 227              value = vvaluex(symget("vars"));
 228              keep cycle variable value count;
 229        run;
 230        
 231        *Step 7: Append the result;
 232        proc append base=all_freqs data=freq_temp force; run;
 233        
 234        *Step 8: Finish the loop;
 235            %let i = %eval(&i + 1);
 236          %end;
 237        %mend freq_by_cycle;
 238        *****************************************************************************************;
 239        
 240        *Step 9: Run the macro;
 241        %freq_by_cycle;
 242        
 243        
 244        *EXPORT THE NEW DATASET;
 245        %CreateDataDictionary(lib=work, data=data_dict_labeled, out=nhanes_dict);
 246        ods excel file="/home/u58028236/myfolders/nhanes_dict.xlsx" options(sheet_name="Data Dictionary");
 247        proc print data=nhanes_dict noobs label;
 248        run;
 249        ods excel close;
 250        
 251        
 252        
 253        
 254        proc export data=all_freqs
 255            outfile="~/myfolders/freq_status.csv"
 256            dbms=csv
 257            replace;
 258        run;
 259        
 260        
 261        OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 262        ODS HTML CLOSE;
 263        &GRAPHTERM; ;*';*";*/;RUN;QUIT;
 264        QUIT;RUN;
 265        ODS HTML5 (ID=WEB) CLOSE;
 266        
 267        FILENAME _GSFNAME;
 268        DATA _NULL_;
 269        RUN;
 270        OPTIONS NOTES STIMER SOURCE SYNTAXCHECK;

[Tom]

From that LOG your EXPORT steps never ran because you confused SAS by having unbalanced quotes at some point.  You see it in the first 10 lines of the SAS LOG.

 1          OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 2          TITLE;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 3          FOOTNOTE;
 4          OPTIONS LOCALE=en_US DFLANG=LOCALE;
 5          DATA _NULL_;
 6          RUN;
 7          OPTIONS VALIDVARNAME=ANY;
 8          OPTIONS VALIDMEMNAME=EXTEND;
 86         &GRAPHTERM; ;*';*";*/;RUN;QUIT;
                          _________________
                          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.
 
 9          FILENAME _HTMLOUT TEMP;

Try resetting the SAS session and resubmitting your code.  Make sure that your code does not have unbalanced quotes.

[Kurt_Bremser]

Not only did you have an unmatched quote, there also was something which keeps the "magic statement"

*';*";*/;RUN;QUIT;

from working properly. This might be a %MACRO definition without a matching %MEND.

Restart your SAS session, and rerun your code step-by-step. A macro definition has to be treated as a single step in this regard.

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi Another suggestion is to be sure that your folder path is 100% correct in the right case and spacing. For. example, SAS OnDemand would consider
Data Dictionary (with space)
DataDictionary (no space)
data dictionary (lower case with space)
datadictionary (lower case, no space)
to be 4 separate folder names. Or, myfolders, My Folders, and my folders are all different folder names. Without seeing your error messages, it is hard to just guess what the error might have been. However, one of the most common issues that people encounter with using the SAS OnDemand server is making sure that their folder paths are correct. You can always right click on a folder in the Server Files and. Folders panel and choose Properties to see the full and correct path to use for that folder.
Cynthia

[Kelly_K]

Thanks, but I saw this trouble-shooting when I was Googling the issue before posting here.  I did use the approach you suggest (right clicking on the desired folder, clicking on Properties, and then copying and pasting the contents of the Location box.   I've also tried numerous locations in the Files (Home) folder on SAS, always using this approach.  For these reasons, I don't think using an incorrect file path is the problem.  

[ballardw]

This message highlighted in red below indicates a very likely mismatched quote somewhere previous th code you show:

1         FILENAME _DATAOUT TEMP;
 12         %LET SYSCC=0;
 13         %LET _CLIENTAPP='SAS Studio';
 14         %LET _CLIENTAPPABREV=Studio;
 15         %LET _CLIENTAPPVERSION=3.81;
 16         %LET _CLIENTVERSION=3.81;
 NOTE: The quoted string currently being processed has become more than 262 bytes long.  You might have unbalanced quotation marks.
 17         %LET _CLIENTMODE=wip;
 18         %LET _SASSERVERNAME=%BQUOTE(SASApp);
 19         %LET _SASHOSTNAME=%BQUOTE(odaws01-usw2);
 20         %LET _SASPROGRAMFILEHOST=%BQUOTE(odaws01-usw2);
 21         %LET _CLIENTUSERID=%BQUOTE(u58028236);
 22

And since none of those data steps show anything about observations or run time then they did not execute at all. Which would explain why nothing was exported. The repeated notes about the quoted string means that all the "code" is actually inside something that has been quoted and never sees an execute .

One other thing to look at is in your macro definition. Use of incline comments such as

  *Step 5:  Create a frequency table;

Can cause problems. Thin inline comment for macros is %*. Either this or the /* comment */ style of comment should be used inside of a macro definition.

From the documentation for /* Macro comment:

Comparisons

SAS comment statements of the form

*commentary;

or

comment commentary;

are complete SAS statements. Consequently, they are processed by the tokenizer and macro facility and cannot contain semicolons or unmatched quotation marks. 

[Kelly_K · Accepted solution]

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question -- the responses were very helpful.  I was able to make tweaks to my code based on them and now I am able to export Excel tables.  I really appreciate the comments about interpreting the log and making inline comments.  I don't often see this type of very useful information!

[Tom]

Statements comments in SAS macro definitions server a vital role in making your code understandable.

SAS has three types of comments:

* Statement comment ;
%* Macro comment ;
/* Block comment */

You can use statement comments to leave messages to the user of the macro because they will appear in the SAS log when MPRINT is turned on.  That is because the macro processor treats them the same any other normal SAS statements, like a PROC PRINT or a RUN statement.

You can use macro comments to leave messages to the coder.   

Use block comments when you need to comment out multiple statements or embed a comment in the middle of another statement.

But you need to make sure not to use unbalanced quotes in the statement comments.  Just like you do not use unbalanced quotes in other statements. The only place where you can use unbalanced quotes safely is in block comments.

[Kelly_K]

This is helpful.  Two follow-up questions:  

(1) When I am first learning new SAS language or techniques, I like to input lots of notes explaining what I've done and why.  What type of inline comments would you recommend in this instance (in light of the comment that statement comments can sometimes cause problems).

(2) In collections of code (whether SAS, Stata, etc.), headers are often created using *'s, /'s, ;'s, etc. to help organize the code.  For example, this is from a CDC tutorial using NHANES data:  

************************************************************************************************;

* Stata code for replicating NCHS Data Brief No. 397 F&V Consumption Among Adults in the US, 2015-2018*;

*Note that all graphs are done in Excel after creating a table of results               

************************************************************************************************;

I note that this example uses statement comments.  Do you recommend a different way of doing this?

[ballardw]

I generally use the /* comment */ style of comment unless there is a very specific reason to have the comment appear in the log.  They work in both the macro and normal code. Plus the SAS enhanced editor supports making and removing them easy with the  Ctrl / (comment an entire line) and Shift Ctrl / (remove line comment).

Caution: it is possible to accidentally nest comments with the editor and blocks of text and that can be a bad thing.

I also tend to separate comments to different lines than actual code to avoid the issues involving the editor line comment keys.  But that may just be me.

One of the issues with the basic inline comment style of * some comment text; happens when the comment involves a single quote which might happen when saying something like "In the following code I'm looking to do X" or macro triggers like % or & .