Add NOWARN option to PROC DELETE

[Tom]

Can PROC DELETE be updated to allow some method to suppress warning message if the dataset (object) being deleted does not exist?  Perhaps a NOWARN option that would convert the warning into a NOTE instead?

17    proc delete data=test; run;

NOTE: Deleting WORK.TEST (memtype=DATA).
NOTE: PROCEDURE DELETE used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds


18    proc delete data=test; run;

WARNING: File WORK.TEST.DATA does not exist.
NOTE: PROCEDURE DELETE used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

Also why does PROC DELETE use parentheses around the options on the PROC step instead of the more normal SAS syntax of a slash? 

If you want to keep the ( ) then can they be made to apply just to the names that immediately precede them?  Currently the last value overrides all of the previous settings. As in this example:

61    proc sql ;
62     create table test as select * from sashelp.class;
NOTE: Table WORK.TEST created, with 19 rows and 5 columns.

63     create view testv as select * from sashelp.class;
NOTE: SQL view WORK.TESTV has been defined.
64    quit;
NOTE: PROCEDURE SQL used (Total process time):
      real time           0.11 seconds
      cpu time            0.04 seconds


65
66    proc delete data=test (memtype=data) testv(memtype=view);
67    run;

WARNING: File WORK.TEST.VIEW does not exist.
NOTE: Deleting WORK.TESTV (memtype=VIEW).
NOTE: PROCEDURE DELETE used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

[SASKiwi]

A workaround would be to switch to PROC DATASETS  which has a NOWARN option.

[ballardw]

Or

data _null_;
   if exist("work.test") then 
   call execute("Proc delete data=work.test;run;");
run;

which only runs the proc delete if the data set(or view or what have you exists.

[lc_isp]

Adding a NOWARN to PROC DELETE seems a shortcut to embed the "if exist("work.test") then...".

If other procs have a NOWARN option, it seems fair even DELETE one can have, IMHO.

[jimbarbour]

I like the idea of a NOWARN option as on other procedures.

A decent work around is to create a little macro like the following:

%MACRO	DelDS(DSN);
	%IF	%QSYSFUNC(EXIST(&DSN))	%THEN
		%DO;
			PROC	DELETE	DATA=&DSN;
			RUN;
		%END;
	%ELSE
		%DO;
			%PUT	NOTE:  Dataset &DSN does not exist;
		%END;
%MEND	DelDS;

Then a simple %DelDS(MyLib.MyData) takes care of business.

Jim