Substituting a letter based on a macro variable

[DocMartin]

 I want to insert the two-character state abbreviation for a missing value. The state can change based on the data set I'm using.  If I try pass through a macro variable, I get a value of '&' rather than 'WI'. 

%macro get_State(st);
    data xxx; set yyy;
   if State = "" then State = '&st';
run;

%get_State(WI)

Is there any way I can get the macro variable st to be evaluated as a character string?

[ballardw · Accepted solution]

Macro variables do not resolve inside single quotes.

Use

%macro get_State(st);
    data xxx; set yyy;
   if State = "" then State = "&st";
run;

If you have a reliable value for ZIPcode you might use the ZIPSTATE function and skip this whole macro.

data xxx; set yyy;
   if State = "" then State = Zipstate(zipcode);
run;

This would correct all the missing if you have a zipcode value. Just a thought. Otherwise you may have some other issues if you need to change more than one state value.