Saving the SAS code after the macro processor did its work

[JMS]

I have SAS programs here which are very old and consist of more macro code than sas code. There are hundreds of macros and the nesting level is mor than 5. The main purpose of  the macros is to construct statements for the data step. The code of the macros is available as source. It is so much macro code that it is not visible what the code does. Is it possible to save the SAS code after the macro processor did its work? Similar to what MPRINT shows? Would it be possible to write a statement-style macro and name it "data", together with the "implmac" option?

[JosvanderVelden]

Do you have access to the macro code? Or is it stored in a macro library?
There is a paper on understanding the macro facility that you may want to read: https://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings/proceedings/sugi30/237-30.pdf

[JMS]

The macro source is available.

[PaigeMiller]

You can save what MPRINT shows. You can do this manually in the LOG window (File->Save) or programmatically by using PROC PRINTTO.

[Quentin · Accepted solution]

You might want to look into MFILE, in addition to MPRINT.  See e.g. https://blogs.sas.com/content/sgf/2022/12/21/decode-your-sas-macro-code/

The thought of an old-style percent-less macro hijacking the DATA statement is pretty scary.  I think I vaguely remember someone saying their site used an old-style macro to hijack the LIBNAME statement, so it might be possible.  

I don't know know if MPRINT / MFILE even know about the percent-less macros.

[JMS]

Thanks, MFILE works perfectly!

[Tom]

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@JMS wrote:

I have SAS programs here which are very old and consist of more macro code than sas code. There are hundreds of macros and the nesting level is mor than 5. The main purpose of  the macros is to construct statements for the data step. The code of the macros is available as source. It is so much macro code that it is not visible what the code does. Is it possible to save the SAS code after the macro processor did its work? Similar to what MPRINT shows? Would it be possible to write a statement-style macro and name it "data", together with the "implmac" option?

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Look at MFILE also.

Or just print it your self:

%put %bquote(%mymacro);

Example:

1031  %macro mymacro(varname);
1032    &varname = &varname ** 2 ;
1033  %mend;
1034
1035  %put %bquote(%mymacro(x));
x = x ** 2 ;

[JMS]

%put %bquote(%mymacro);

This is interesting! Thanks!