concatenating a string(or characters) with a macro output

[bhu]

I have a macro:

%generate_string();

    %let string= apple;

    %put &string;

%mend;

I have a data step where I have to concatenate a value with this macro output:

data _null_;

    %let output = This is an || %generate_string() ||.;

    %put &output;

run;

I need output as :

This is an apple.

[novinosrin · Accepted solution]

%macro generate_string;
%global string;
    %let string= apple;

  &string

%mend;

data _null_;
     output = "This is an"||" "||"%generate_string"||".";

    put output=;

run;

[Astounding]

You may be overcomplicating this.  If you start as @novinosrin suggested:

%macro generate_string;
   %let string = apple;
   &string
%mend generate_string;

Now you can get the value of &STRING easily:

%let output = This is an %generate_string.

If you need the output as a character variable within a data set, you can similarly use:

data want;

set have;

output = "This is an %generate_string.";

run;

[Satish_Parida]

%macro generate_string;
apple
%mend generate_string;

data _null_;
    output1 = 'This is an ' || "%generate_string" ||.;
    put output1=;
run;