Hi Experts,
Below is an extract from a macro program.
%if &_N_Var_values_>1 and &_N_Var_values_<=10 %then
%let var_count=catx(' ',&var_name);
I am trying to concatenate variable names having number of levels from 1 to 10 in a macro variable var_count but not getting the desired results. Please advise how can I modify
%let var_count=catx(' ',&var_name) so that I can have variables in the following format
a b d g (Qualifying constraint from 1 to 10).
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
This approach can be done, but involves several complications. To use CATX in macro language, you need to place it inside %SYSFUNC. To refer to a blank in macro language, you have to refer to %str( ) rather than ' '. And what does &VAR_NAME actually refer to? Don't you have 10 macro variables rather than a single &VAR_NAME? Otherwise what are you concatenating? Or does &VAR_NAME already contain a series of commas embedded within it?
On the off-chance that the answer is that you have a set of macro variables &VAR_NAME1, &VAR_NAME2, etc., here is an easier way to concatenate them:
%local i var_count;
%do i=1 %to &_N_Var_values_;
%let var_count = &var_count &&var_name&i;
%end;
I'm not sure I have the right picture here. Why would you want to use the name &VAR_COUNT to hold the final string of concatenated variables?
Maybe you can clarify what you are trying to accomplish.
Good luck.
Thanks Astounding - I've a lot of variables in dataset and I am trying to create a macro variable by selecting variables containing maximum 10 different values for classification analyses. Code mentioned above is helpful in identifying required variables. If I need to access var_count variable outside the macro what changes should I make in the syntax? Secondly on first iteration what value is being assigned to &var_count?
%let var_count = &var_count &&var_name&i;
Regards
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