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sassas-macro

Calling macro variables in SAS

I'm working with SAS enterprise 7.1 and I would like to know if there's any difference between calling a macro variable with &var. vs &var, that is, without the final dot. In general, I see that both methods work, but I would like to know if there's something that I'm missing. Thanks in advance!

Solution

  • Consider the scenario below:

    %let myVar = Demo;

libname example "/home/myName/&myVar85";

    SAS will look for the macro variable &myVar85 here. But my macro variable is only myVar....so adding a period tells SAS this is the end of the macro variable and to resolve it.

    libname example "/home/myName/&myVar.85";

    If you were using it as part of the file path remember to add an extra . for the extension.

    ods excel file="/home/myName/&myVar..xlsx" style=meadow;

proc print data=sashelp.class;
run;

ods excel close;