SAS macro resolution call symputx (get current row) - macros

I'm using SAS 9.2, and I got the following piece of code:
data success error;
length vague 3 path $150;
set foplist;
call symputx('error_count', rownum);
%if &&error&error_count = 0 %then %do;
path= "&&path&error_count";
vague=1;
output success;
%end;
%else %do;
...
%end;
run;
For each record I'd like to get the rownum, and combine it with another macro variable.
The rownum displays the rownumber of a record in the foplist dataset. For some reason I always get the last number in the dataset (probably because of macro compilation?)
For example:
A --- rownum=1
B --- rownum=2
I only get rownum=2
Any idea how to fix it?
Thanks!

You can't create and resolve a macro variable within the same datastep.
Have you already defined the macro variables ERROR1-ERRORx and PATH1-PATHn and wish to retrieve those values into the datastep based on rownum? i.e. to resolve &&ERROR&ERROR_COUNT.
If so, just use symexist / symget...
data success error ;
length vague 3 path $150 ;
set foplist ;
if symexist(cats('ERROR',rownum)) and symexist(cats('PATH',rownum)) then do ;
error_count = symget(cats('ERROR',rownum)) ;
if error_count = 0 then do ;
path = symget(cats('PATH',rownum)) ;
vague = 1 ;
output success ;
end ;
else output error ;
end ;
else output error ;
run;

Related

SAS Macro code error with length statement

I am trying to change the length of the variables based on a list that I have and the code seems to work but the desired output is not achieved. here is the code:
%macro LEN();
Proc sql ;
select count(name) into: varnum from variab;
select name into: varname1-:varname%trim(%left(&varnum)) from Variab;
select length3 into: len from Length;
Quit;
%do i=1 %to &varnum;
data Zero;
length &&varname&i $ &&len&i.;
set desti.test;
length _numeric_ 4.;
format _numeric_ 12.2;
run;
%end;
%mend;
It gives a warning
WARNING: Multiple lengths were specified for the variable fscadl1 by
input data set(s). This can cause truncation
of data.
and it doesnt change the length of the variable. what is wrong in this code?
Are you trying to change a list of variables in one dataset? You're repeating the entire data step for each iteration, but only writing to a constant destination, which is inconsistent.
Probably what you want is:
Proc sql ;
select count(name) into: varnum from variab;
select name into: varname1-:varname%trim(%left(&varnum)) from Variab;
select length3 into: len from Length;
Quit;
%macro set_len(varnum=);
%do i=1 %to &varnum;
length &&varname&i $ &&len&i.;
%end;
%mend;
data Zero;
%set_len(&varnum);
set desti.test;
length _numeric_ 4.;
format _numeric_ 12.2;
run;
Note that you'd need to define &&len&i as you're not doing that currently.
The warning messages suggests that it is working. SAS started throwing that warning when you truncate a variable. You can suppress the warning message with the VARLENCHK option.
Below works:
options varlenchk=nowarn;
data want;
length name $ 3;
set sashelp.class;
length _numeric_ 4;
run;
If your code isn't working, I would turn on MPRINT to see make sure your macro is generating the SAS code you expect.

SAS Error trying to loop through multiple datasets

I'm trying to run some code which will hopefully concatenate multiple months or years worth of data. I am trying to figure out when a field was populated with a value. I.e. there is field XYZ in my data set and it is populated with value A in November 2016. If I run my code from Jan - Dec I would like a new field populated with the date that SAS encounters a non-blank value in that field.
Here's my code:
options mprint symbolgen source mlogic merror syntaxcheck ;
%macro append_monthly(iStart_date=, iEnd_date=);
%local tmp_date i;
%let tmp_date = %sysfunc(intnx(month,&iStart_date,0,beginning)) ;
%do %while (&tmp_date le &iEnd_date);
%let i = %sysfunc(sum(&tmp_date),yymmn4.);
%put &i.;
%let tmp_date = %sysfunc(intnx(month,&tmp_date,1,beginning)) ;
libname note "my.qualifiers.fords.note&i." disp=shr;
data new ;
set note.file ;
%if ln_note_crbur_date_delinq ne '' %then spc_cmt_date = &i.;
run;
%end;
%mend;
%append_monthly(iStart_date=%sysfunc(mdy(5,1,2016)), iEnd_date=%sysfunc(mdy(10,1,2016)) );
LIBNAME _ALL_ CLEAR;
Here's a sample from log with errors :
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable TMP_DATE resolves to 20606
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable IEND_DATE resolves to 20728
MLOGIC(APPEND_MONTHLY): %DO %WHILE(&tmp_date le &iEnd_date) condition is TRUE; loop will iterate again.
MLOGIC(APPEND_MONTHLY): %LET (variable name is I)
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable TMP_DATE resolves to 20606
MLOGIC(APPEND_MONTHLY): %PUT &i.
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable I resolves to 1606
1606
MLOGIC(APPEND_MONTHLY): %LET (variable name is TMP_DATE)
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable TMP_DATE resolves to 20606
MPRINT(APPEND_MONTHLY): spc_cmt_date = 1605 run;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable I resolves to 1606
MPRINT(APPEND_MONTHLY): libname note "my.qualifiers.fords.note1606" disp=shr;
ERROR: Unable to clear or re-assign the library NOTE because it is still in use.
ERROR: Error in the LIBNAME statement.
NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
WARNING: The data set WORK.NEW may be incomplete. When this step was stopped there were 0 observations and 622 variables.
WARNING: Data set WORK.NEW was not replaced because this step was stopped.
NOTE: The DATA statement used 0.01 CPU seconds and 49483K.
NOTE: The address space has used a maximum of 4292K below the line and 240388K above the line.
I can't figure out why this isn't working. Maybe this could work using Proc append.
Basically, I just want my output with a field that returns a date in the form of YYMM for when field ln_note_crbur_date_delinq was non-blank.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
I'd guess the reason for your error is that the handle is not being cleared on your source file before the next libname statement tries to re-assign.
An easy fix would be to use a different alias (libref) each time, as follows:
libname note&i "my.qualifiers.fords.note&i." disp=shr;
Then adjust your data step like so:
data new ;
set note&i..file ;
The next part appears to be confusion between macro logic and data step. Simply remove the % symbols as follows:
if ln_note_crbur_date_delinq ne '' then spc_cmt_date = &i.;
Finally, add a proc append before the %end as follows:
proc append base=work.final data=new; run;
If work.final does not exist, it will be created in the same format as new.
EDIT:
following discussion in comments, here is a revised approach:
%macro append_monthly(iStart_date=, iEnd_date=);
%local tmp_date i set_statement;
%let tmp_date = %sysfunc(intnx(month,&iStart_date,0,beginning)) ;
%do %while (&tmp_date le &iEnd_date);
%let i = %sysfunc(sum(&tmp_date),yymmn4.);
%let tmp_date = %sysfunc(intnx(month,&tmp_date,1,beginning)) ;
%let set_statement=&set_statement &i..file;
libname note&i "my.qualifiers.fords.note&i." disp=shr;
%end;
data new ;
set &set_statement;
if ln_note_crbur_date_delinq ne '' then spc_cmt_date = &i.;
run;
%mend;
%append_monthly(iStart_date=%sysfunc(mdy(5,1,2016)), iEnd_date=%sysfunc(mdy(10,1,2016)) );
LIBNAME _ALL_ CLEAR;

recode and add prefix to sas variables

Lets's say I have a bunch of variables named the same way and I'd like to recode them and add a prefix to each (the variables are all numeric).
In Stata I would do something like (let's say the variables start with eq)
foreach var of varlist eq* {
recode var (1/4=1) (else=0), pre(r_)
}
How can I do this in SAS? I'd like to use the %DO macros, but I'm not familiar with them (I want to avoid SQL). I'd appreciate if you could include comments explaining each step!
SAS syntax for this would be easier if your variables are named using numeric suffix. That is, if you had ten variables with names of eq1, eq2, .... , eq10, then you could just use variable lists to define both sets of variables.
There are a number of ways to translate your recode logic. If we assume you have clean variables then we can just use a boolean expression to generate a 0/1 result. So if 4 and 5 map to 1 and the rest map to 0 you could use x in (4,5) or x > 3 as the boolean expresson.
data want;
set have;
array old eq1-eq10 ;
array new r_eq1-r_eq10 ;
do i=1 to dim(old);
new(i) = old(i) in (4,5);
end;
run;
If you have missing values or other complications you might want to use IF/THEN logic or a SELECT statement or you could define a format you could use to convert the values.
If your list of names is more random then you might need to use some code generation, such as macro code, to generate the new variable names.
Here is one method that use the eq: variable list syntax in SAS that is similar to the syntax of your variable selection before. Use PROC TRANSPOSE on an empty (obs=0) version of your source dataset to get a dataset with the variable names that match your name pattern.
proc transpose data=have(obs=0) out=names;
var eq: ;
run;
Then generate two macro variables with the list of old and new names.
proc sql noprint ;
select _name_
, cats('r_',_name_)
into :old_list separated by ' '
, :new_list separated by ' '
from names
;
quit;
You can then use the two macro variables in your ARRAY statements.
array old &old_list ;
array new &new_list ;
You can do this with rename and a dash indicating which variables you want to rename. Note the following only renames the col variables, and not the other one:
data have;
col1=1;
col2=2;
col3=3;
col5=5;
other=99;
col12=12;
run;
%macro recoder(dsn = , varname = , prefix = );
/*select all variables that include the string "varname"*/
/*(you can change this if you want to be more specific on the conditions that need to be met to be renamed)*/
proc sql noprint;
select distinct name into: varnames
separated by " "
from dictionary.columns where memname = upcase("&dsn.") and index(name, "&varname.") > 0;
quit;
data want;
set have;
/*loop through that list of variables to recode*/
%do i = 1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&varnames.));
%let this_varname = %scan(&varnames., &i.);
/*create a new variable with desired prefix based on value of old variable*/
if &this_varname. in (1 2 3) then &prefix.&this_varname. = 0;
else if &this_varname. in (4 5) then &prefix.&this_varname. = 1;
%end;
run;
%mend recoder;
%recoder(dsn = have, varname = col, prefix = r_);
PROC TRANSPOSE will give you good flexibility with regards to the way your variables are named.
proc transpose data=have(obs=0) out=vars;
var col1-numeric-col12;
copy col1;
run;
proc transpose data=vars out=revars(drop=_:) prefix=RE_;
id _name_;
run;
data recode;
set have;
if 0 then set revars;
array c[*] col1-numeric-col12;
array r[*] re_:;
call missing(of r[*]);
do _n_ = 1 to dim(c);
if c[_n_] in(1 2 3) then r[_n_] = 0;
else if c[_n_] in(4 5) then r[_n_] = 1;
else r[_n_] = c[_n_];
end;
run;
proc print;
run;
It would be nearly trivial to write a macro to parse almost that exact syntax.
I wouldn't necessarily use this - I like both the transpose and the array methods better, both are more 'SASsy' (think 'pythonic' but for SAS) - but this is more or less exactly what you're doing above.
First set up a dataset:
data class;
set sashelp.class;
age_ly = age-1;
age_ny = age+1;
run;
Then the macro:
%macro do_count(data=, out=, prefix=, condition=, recode=, else=, var_start=);
%local dsid varcount varname rc; *declare local for safety;
%let dsid = %sysfunc(open(&data.,i)); *open the dataset;
%let varcount = %sysfunc(attrn(&dsid,nvars)); *get the count of variables to access;
data &out.; *now start the main data step;
set &data.; *set the original data set;
%do i = 1 %to &varcount; *iterate over the variables;
%let varname= %sysfunc(varname(&dsid.,&i.)); *determine the variable name;
%if %upcase(%substr(&varname.,1,%length(&var_start.))) = %upcase(&var_start.) %then %do; *if it matches your pattern then recode it;
&prefix.&varname. = ifn(&varname. &condition., &recode., &else.); *this uses IFN - only recodes numerics. More complicated code would work if this could be character.;
%end;
%end;
%let rc = %sysfunc(close(&dsid)); *clean up after yourself;
run;
%mend do_count;
%do_count(data=class, out=class_r, var_start=age, condition= > 14, recode=1, else=0, prefix=p_);
The expression (1/4=1) means values {1,2,3,4} should be recoded into
1.
Perhaps you do not need to make new variables at all? If have variables with values 1,2,3,4,5 and you want to treat them as if they have only two groups you could do it with a format.
First define your grouping using a format.
proc format ;
value newgrp 1-4='Group 1' 5='Group 2' ;
run;
Then you can just use a FORMAT statement in your analysis step to have SAS treat your five level variable as it if had only two levels.
proc freq ;
tables eq: ;
format eq: NEWGRP. ;
run;

Get the ith word in a macro variable list

%let TableList = TableA TableH TableB TableG;
Words in &TableList are separated by ' '.
How can I retrieve certain word to do the following?
I do not know the number of words in the tablelist and would like to get the nth word from the list.
Given i = 4,
data &&table&i.; /* &&table&i. will resolve to TableG */
set have;
[..];
run;
I would have done the same %sysfunc(scan) trick as #mjsqu and as to answer your remaining question - of getting the last word because you don't know the number of words in the list, the easiest way I can think of is using array like below
%let all=word1 word2 word3 word4 word5;
%macro test;
data _NULL_;
array x[*] &all.;
Num=dim(x);
call symput("Num_of_words",num);
run;
%mend;
%test;
Now you know the total number of words so can find out the last word as well.
The short answer is to use the %scan function:
%put %scan(&tablelist,4,%str( ));
The third argument specifies that %scan should count only spaces as delimiters. Otherwise, it will also treat all of the following characters as delimiters by default:
. < ( + & ! $ * ) ; ^ - / , % |
Given the list you have, you can use a %do loop to add the macro variables to a list:
/* initialise a counter macro variable */
%let k = 1;
/* iterate through tablelist until a value is not found */
%do %until (%scan(&tablelist,&k,%str( )) = );
%let table&k = %scan(&tablelist,&k,%str( ));
%let k = &k + 1;
%end;
%let i = 4;
%put &&table&i;
N.B. this code only works inside a macro definition (that is a block of code delimited by %macro and %mend statements.
If you're doing this for the purpose of selecting on the fly one word from the list, you should just make a macro, not try to set up macro variables. Too much extra work to do all that business to make the various macro variables versus a one-line macro.
%let tableList=TableA TableB TableC TableD;
%macro selectTable(k=);
%scan(&tablelist,&k)
%mend selectTable;
data %selectTable(k=4);
set sashelp.class;
run;

SAS: put format in macro

I am trying to create a new variable by assigning a format to an existing variable. I'm doing this from within a macro. I'm getting the following error: ": Expecting a format name." Any thoughts on how to resolve? Thanks!
/* macro to loop thru a list of vars and execute a code block on each. This is working fine. */
%macro iterlist
(
code =
,list =
)
;
%*** ASSIGN EACH ITEM IN THE LIST TO AN INDEXED MACRO VARIABLE &&ITEM&I ;
%let i = 1;
%do %while (%cmpres(%scan(&list., &i.)) ne );
%let item&i. = %cmpres(%scan(&list., &i.));
%let i = %eval((&i. + 1);
%end;
%*** STORE THE COUNT OF THE NUMBER OF ITEMS IN A MACRO VARIABLE: &CNTITEM;
%let cntitem = %eval((&i. - 1);
%*** EXPRESS CODE, REPLACING TOKENS WITH ELEMENTS OF THE LIST, IN SEQUENCE;
%do i = 1 %to &cntitem.;
%let codeprp = %qsysfunc(tranwrd(&code.,?,%nrstr(&&item&i..)));
%unquote(&codeprp.)
%end;
%mend iterlist;
/* set the list of variables to iterate thru */
%let mylist = v1 v2 v3 v4;
/* create a contents table to look up format info to assign in macro below*/
proc contents data=a.recode1 noprint out=contents;
run;
/* macro to create freq and chisq tables for each var */
%macro runfreqs (variabl = );
proc freq data=a.recode1 noprint ;
tables &variabl.*improved /out=&variabl._1 chisq;
output out=&variabl.chisq n pchi ;
run;
/* do some more stuff with the freq tables, then grab format for variable from contents */
data _null_;
set contents;
if name="&variabl." then CALL SYMPUT("classformat", format);
run;
data &variabl._3;
length classvalue $ 30 ;
set &variabl._2; ;
/* output a new var using the macro variable for format that we pulled from contents above. Here's where the error occurs. */
classvalue=put(class, %quote(&classformat.));
run;
%mend runfreqs;
* run the macro, iterating thru var list and creating freq tables;
%ITERLIST(list = &mylist., code = %nrstr(%runfreqs(variabl = ?);));
Just guessing, the line
classvalue=put(class, %quote(&classformat.));
should be
classvalue=put(class, &classformat..);
Two points because one is "eaten" by macro processor to mark end of macro variable name, the second one is needed to complete format name.
I believe you won't need %quote() in your case - format name cannot contain strings quoted by %quote().
EDIT: Again not tried, just based on the code I see you also need to change CALL SYMPUT("classformat", format);
to CALL SYMPUTX("classformat", format);
CALL SYMPUTX() is advanced version of CALL SYMPUT(), it removes trailing blanks in macro variable value while the original version keeps blanks. Effectively this will be same as your solution, just simpler.
So the problem is indeed with extra blanks between format name and the period.
No idea why this works and vasja's idea wouldn't, but the problem was clearly with the period on the end of the format name (or perhaps some extra white space?). I changed the data step to add the period before the SYMPUT call:
data _null_;
set contents;
myformat=catt(format,'.');
if name="&variabl." then CALL SYMPUT("classformat", myformat);
run;