Why is Special Tokens not being displayed in the log when using %put _user_?

[Nietzsche]

hello, learning about masking special tokens in Macro Variables in the Advanced prep guide 4e. pg 304.

When I reference the macro variable with %put &prog; it shows the special token ";" in the log.

But if I use %put _user_; or %put _all_;   special token ";" is missing.

why is that?

[Nietzsche]

okay, just read about %bquote, which seems to be so much easier than %str.

is there any point in using %str over %bquote? 

[PaigeMiller]

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@Nietzsche wrote:

okay, just read about %bquote, which seems to be so much easier than %str.

is there any point in using %str over %bquote? 

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%bquote and %str do different things. They are not interchangeable.

In simple terms, %str() masks special characters that you can see in the argument. For example, if you have a plus sign in the argument, you would need %str. You could use %str(Dan+Shay), you can see the + sign in the argument to the %str() function, and so the %str() function will treat the plus sign as text and not as addition; and quoting functions will not help here.

%bquote masks special characters that you cannot see in a macro variable. If a macro variable &A contains values with a plus sign, then the %str(&A) will not work, you cannot see the plus sign; you will need %bquote(&a) to prevent the plus sign from being interpreted as addition.

[Quentin]

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@Nietzsche wrote:

okay, just read about %bquote, which seems to be so much easier than %str.

is there any point in using %str over %bquote? '

This is a good question, but I suggest you make it a separate question.  It's deserving of its own thread.  The differences between %BQUOTE and %STR become clearer in the the context of a macro.  In open code (outside of a macro definition), there are people who use %BQUOTE in situations where %STR could be used.  But inside a macro definition, %BQUOTE and %STR do different things.

[yabwon]

I recommend you this article by Susan O'Connor about macro quoting:

https://stats.oarc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bt185.pdf

it's only 12 pages, so reads fast, but explains everything perfectly, especially differences between %str() and %bquote().

I'm sure @Quentin will agree on that.

Bart

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Because that is how it works.

If you look carefully at the output of %PUT _USER_ you can see the special bytes that indicate the macro quoting.

And if you look at how it is surfaced by SASHELP.VMACRO you can see it also.

2045  data _null_;
2046    set sashelp.vmacro;
2047    where name='XX';
2048    put value / value :$hex36. ;
2049  run;


data one run
0164617461206F6E650E2072756E0E022020
NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set SASHELP.VMACRO.
      WHERE name='XX';