Hi again,
Thank you so much for taking the time to solve my problem, I greatly appreciate it.
The idea is I get the COMMENT from a database that out of my control. No way to limit its length. But the expectation is around up to 1000 character per report. It could be slightly more than 1000 but not too much, like 2k.
Per my client's data standards COMMENT length is set $200 which causes data truncation if raw data COMMENT contains more than 200 characters. in order to avoid data truncation I will need to create extra comment fields such as COMMENT1, COMMENT2 etc with the same length $200 to include all available data. As we don't now the exact max number, I was suggesting to conditionally create extra COMMENTS based on raw data LENGTH. This way my program would take care of all data and create as many new VARS as needed every time I run the report.
So far I could figure out a macro code to conditionally create new VARS to cover up to 1000 characters. I could extend it's coverage up to 2k as well, but my codes get very long and ugly :(.
My idea was developing kind of LOOP that contains less code and can create enough vars when needed.
Below is my temporary solution for your review. And please give your opinion about this code and how to improve it.
Thank you!
**********************************************************************************************************;
*Testing a macro code to conditionally create new variable;
data test;
length comment $ 1000;
comment= "Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, or major adverse cardiac events) is a composite endpoint frequently used in cardiovascular research,[1][2] comparable to the composite endpoint all-cause mortality. Despite widespread use of the term in clinical trials, the definitions of MACE can differ, which makes comparison of similar studies difficult.[3] The so-calledclassical 3-point MACE is defined as a composite of nonfatal stroke, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death.[4][5] But another study defines MACE as CVD events, admission for HF (Heart Failure), ischemic cardiovascular [CV] events, cardiac death, or MACE.[6] Yet another study defined MACE as CV death, hospitalization for HF, or myocardial infarction (MI)";
run;
data one;
set test;
varlgth= length(comment);
call symputx("varlth", varlgth);
run;
%macro split;
data two;
set one;
%if &varlth gt 200 %then %do;
length COM1 $ 200;
COM1= substr(comment, 1, 200);
%end;
%else %do;
length COM1 $ 200;
COM1= comment;
%end;
%if &varlth gt 400 %then %do;
length COM2 $ 200;
COM2= substr(comment, 201, 200);
%end;
%else %if &varlth <= 400 and &varlth > 200 %then %do;
length COM2 $ 200;
COM2=substr(comment, 201);
%end;
%if &varlth gt 600 %then %do;
length COM3 $ 200;
COM3= substr(comment, 401, 200);
%end;
%else %if &varlth <= 600 and &varlth > 400 %then %do;
length COM3 $ 200;
COM3=substr(comment, 401);
%end;
%if &varlth gt 800 %then %do;
length COM4 $ 200;
COM4= substr(comment, 601, 200);
%end;
%else %if &varlth <= 800 and &varlth > 600 %then %do;
length COM4 $ 200;
COM4=substr(comment, 601);
%end;
%if &varlth gt 1000 %then %do;
length COM5 $ 200;
COM5= substr(comment, 801, 200);
%end;
%else %if &varlth <= 1000 and &varlth > 800 %then %do;
length COM5 $ 200;
COM5=substr(comment, 801);
%end;
run;
%mend split;
%split;
**********************************************************************************************************;
