Unquoting in SAS

[kaushal2040]

Hello Forum,

Use of %unquote is not  necessary even though it is quoted with %str in code below (Automatic unquoting).  I wonder under which conditions %unquote is explicitly required to get the resolved value back.

Thanks !!!

options symbolgen;

%let macvar=%str(proc print;run;);

%put &macvar;

SYMBOLGEN:  Macro variable MACVAR resolves to proc print;run;

SYMBOLGEN:  Some characters in the above value which were subject to macro

            quoting have been unquoted for printing.

proc print;run;

[ballardw · Accepted solution]

Basically needed when you had to %quote (or other functions) because the string you are manipulating has special characters such as % or & that are not macro function or variables (at least at that point in the program) that you do not want resolved.

From the documentation see the difference in these two data steps:

%let val = aaa;

%let testval = %str(%'&val%');

data _null_;

  val = &testval;

  put 'VAL =' val;

run;

and

data _null_;

  val = %unquote(&testval);

  put 'VAL =' val;

run;

I try to avoid macro quoting as much as practical as it often means I've complicated issues somewhere along the line.

[kaushal2040]

Thanks, ballardw.

This example explains a lot.  I understand when there are macro triggers masked in macro variable then %unquote is required to get resolved value.