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sassas-macro

Macro resolution

I have a macro that resolves to a string which contains an ampersand and this cause the error WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference A not resolved.

For example

Data _NULL_;
T=%NRSTR("A&A");
call symput("test",T);
run;

%put &=test.;

Is there a way to only resolve only once? The NR function seems to remove the meaning of all & and prevent any resolutions. I only want it to be resolved once.

The following example works but I need it to be part of a data step as there are several other regex functions that are being used to create the A&Astring.

%let Test=%NRSTR(A&A);
%put &test;

Any ideas?

Solution

  • In the DATA step single quote the text value that is being sent to the macro environment.

    To prevent the & from being interpreted as a resolution request, %superq the macro symbol when using it.

    Data _NULL_;
  T = 'A&A';
  call symput("test",T);
run;

%put NOTE: test macro symbol value is %superq(test);

---------- LOG ----------
21   %put NOTE: test macro symbol value is %superq(test);
NOTE: test macro symbol value is A&A