Have you ever needed to know if a given variable is in a SAS data set? This macro returns 1 if a variable exists in a data set, and 0 if not.
%macro VarExist(ds, var);
%local rc dsid result;
%let dsid = %sysfunc(open(&ds));
%if %sysfunc(varnum(&dsid, &var)) > 0 %then %do;
%let result = 1;
%put NOTE: Var &var exists in &ds;
%end;
%else %do;
%let result = 0;
%put NOTE: Var &var not exists in &ds;
%end;
%let rc = %sysfunc(close(&dsid));
&result
%mend VarExist;
/* Usage */
%put %VarExist(sashelp.class, name);
%put %VarExist(sashelp.class, aaa);
This tip was originally posted by Adrien Vallee on sasCommunity.org.
