Practice Macro Essentials What does this mean? ERROR: Open code state recursion detected

[heatherml20]

* Macro Functions: Practice #1 *

75 *******************************/

76

77 %let Fullname=AnTHoNY MilLeR;

78 %Let First=%scan(&fullname, 1);

79 %Let Last=%scan(&fullname, 2);

80

81 %put &=First

82

83 %put %sysfunc(propcase(&First));

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

84

85 %put &=Last

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

86

87 %put %sysfunc(propcase(&Last));

88

89 %put Fullname=&Fullname First=%sysfunc(propcase(&First)) Last=%sysfunc(propcase(&Last));

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

90

91 %put &Fullname;

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

92

93 %put %upcase(&fullname);

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

94

95 %put The current form of the name is &Fullname and the Propercase is

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

96 %sysfunc(propcase(&Fullname));

97

98 %put _user_;

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

99

100 %symdel Fullname ;

ERROR: Open code statement recursion detected.

101

[antonbcristina]

Hi @heatherml20, I noticed that you're missing semicolons after some of your %PUT statements.  

%put &=First

That can cause the errors you're encountering. Try going through your code, add all of the required semicolons to end each statement and rerun. 

[heatherml20]

Hi,

Yes, I found that I missed a couple of semicolons. I appreciate your
help. The main problem is that I did not use a %Mend statement at the end
of the Macro definition.

How do I use a %symdel statement to delete variables from the global symbol
table? How do I show the variables in the table itself?

[Tom]

Usually you don't need to delete macro variables.  They will disappear when your current SAS session ends.  But to delete macro variable just list its name in the %SYMDEL statement.

%symdel x;

To see what is in the GLOBAL symbol table you can use special keyword _GLOBAL_ with the %PUT statement.

%put _global_;

Example::

1    %let x=101;
2    %let y=102;
3    %put _global_;
GLOBAL X 101
GLOBAL Y 102
4    %symdel x ;
5    %put _global_;
GLOBAL Y 102

[antonbcristina]

To display in the LOG all macro variables stored, you can use a %PUT statement with the keyword _ALL_ to display all macro variables or _USER_ to display user defined macro variables. 

%put _all_;

%put _user_;

To delete macro variables created, you can use the %SYMDEL statement with the name of the macro variable:

%symdel <macro_var_name>;

[FreelanceReinh]

This is how your log would have looked like, had you submitted your code as part of a macro definition (using the macro name test for demonstration):

76    %macro test;
77      %let Fullname=AnTHoNY MilLeR;
78      %Let First=%scan(&fullname, 1);
79      %Let Last=%scan(&fullname, 2);
80
81      %put &=First
82
83      %put %sysfunc(propcase(&First));
ERROR: Macro keyword PUT appears as text.
ERROR: A dummy macro will be compiled.
84
85      %put &=Last
86
87      %put %sysfunc(propcase(&Last));
ERROR: Macro keyword PUT appears as text.
...

But you did not show any of the above error messages, which indicates that you did not submit a macro definition and hence don't need a %MEND statement.

[heatherml20]

The mend statement did get rid of the ERROR: Open code state recursion
detected in this case.

[FreelanceReinh]

Oh yes, you're right. The %MEND statement helps at least in this particular example (as does submitting the two forgotten semicolons) -- but not because it was missing in the first place.

A %MEND statement is also part of the "magic" string that is recommended as a remedy in situations where the reason of the "open code statement recursion" is less obvious. The usage of this string

*'; *"; *); */; %mend; run;

is documented in the section "Solving Open Code Statement Recursion Problems" of the Macro Language Reference, together with other recommendations.

[heatherml20]

Thank you Jade! I appreciate your help\\\ More to come as I am studying
for the Adv 9.4 programming now.

[FreelanceReinh]

---

@antonbcristina wrote:

Try going through your code, add all of the required semicolons to end each statement and rerun. 

---

... and before you rerun the statements which failed, submit the two missing semicolons alone. This should get the macro processor out of that "statement recursion" mode.

;;

[heatherml20]

I did that but I also did not use a %mend statement. I think that is the
error.

[FreelanceReinh]

A %MEND statement would end the definition of a SAS macro (starting with a %MACRO statement -- which is neither shown in your log, nor required for the %LET, %PUT and %SYMDEL statements to work).