Proc sql and macro variables - sas

Question

I am trying to run a code that should work on tables created considering different factors. As these factors can be more than 1, I decided to create a macro %let to list them:
%let list= factor1 factor2 ...;
What I would like to do is run a code to create these tables using different factors. For each factor, I computed using proc means the mean and the standard deviation, so I should have the variables &list._mean and &list._stddev in the table created by the proc means for each factor. This table is labelled as t2 and I need to join to another table, t1. From t1 I am considering all the variables.
My main difficulties are, therefore, in the proc sql:
proc sql;
create table new_table as
select t1.*
, t2.&list._mean as mean
, t2.&list._stddev as stddev
from table1 as t1
left join table2 as t2
on t1.time=t2.time
order by t2.&list.
quit;
This code is returning an error and I think because I am considering t2.factor1 factor2, i.e. t2 is only applied to the first factor, not to the second one.
What I would expect is the following:
proc sql;
create table new_table as
select t1.*
, t2.factor1._mean as mean
, t2.factor1._stddev as stddev
from table1 as t1
left join table2 as t2
on t1.time=t2.time
order by t2.factor1.
quit;
and another one for factor2.
UPDATE CODE:
%macro test_v1(
_dtb
,_input
,_output
,_time
,_factor
);
data &_input.;
set &_dtb..&_input.;
keep &_col_period. &_factor.;
run;
proc sort data = work.&_input.
out = &_input._1;
by &_factor. &_time.;
run;
%put ERROR: 2
proc means data=&_input._1 nonobs mean stddev;
class &_time.;
var &_factor.;
output out=&_input._n (drop=_TYPE_) mean= stddev= /autoname ;
run;
%put ERROR: 3
proc sql;
create table work.&_input._data as
select t1.*
,t2.&_factor._mean as mean
,t2.&_factor._stddev as stddev
from &_input. as t1
left join &_input._n as t2
on t1.&_time.=t2.&_time.
order by &_factor.;
quit;
%mend test_v1;
Then my question is on how I can consider multiple factors, defined into a macro as a list, as columns of tables and as input data into a macro (for example: %test(dataset, tablename, list).

Answer 1

I suspect that trying to use PROC SQL is what is making the problem hard. If you stick to just using normal SAS syntax your space delimited list of variable names is easy to use.
So taking your code and tweaking it a little:
%macro test_v1
(_dtb /* Input libref */
,_input /* Input member name */
,_output /* Output dataset */
,_time /* Class/By variable(s) */
,_factor /* Analysis variable(s) */
);
proc sort data= &_dtb..&_input. out=_temp1;
by &_time. ;
run;
proc means data=_temp1 nonobs mean stddev;
by &_time.;
var &_factor.;
output out=_temp2 (drop=_TYPE_) mean= stddev= /autoname ;
run;
data &_output. ;
merge _temp1 _temp2 ;
by &_time.;
run;
%mend test_v1;
We can then test it using SASHELP.CLASS by using SEX as the "time" variable and HEIGHT and WEIGHT as the analysis variables.
%test_v1(_dtb=sashelp,_input=class,_output=want,_time=sex,_factor=height weight);

Answer 2

You can try to add macro loop to your macros by scanning list of factors. It could look like:
%macro test(list);
%do i=1 to %sysfunc(countw(&list,%str( )));
%let factorname=%scan(&list,&i,%str( ));
/* if macro variable list equals factor1 factor2 then there would be
two iterations in loop, i=1 factorname=factor1 and i=2 factorname=2*/
/*your code here*/
%end
%mend test;
UPDATE:
%macro test(_input, _output, factors_list); %macro d; %mend d;
%do i=1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&factors_list,%str( )));
%let tfactor=%scan(&factors_list,&i,%str( ));
proc sort data = work.&_input.
out = &_input._1;
by &factors_list. time;
run;
proc means data=&_input._1 nonobs mean stddev;
class time;
var &tfactor.;
output out=&_input._num (drop=_TYPE_) mean= stddev= /autoname ;
run;
proc sql;
create table &_output._&tfactor as
select t1.*
, t2.&tfactor._mean as mean
, t2.&tfactor._stddev as stddev
from &_input as t1
left join &_input._num as t2
on t1.time=t2.time
order by t1.&tfactor;
quit;
%end;
%mend test;
%test(have,newdata,factor1 factor2);
Have dataset:
+------+---------+---------+
| time | factor1 | factor2 |
+------+---------+---------+
| 1 | 12345 | 1234 |
| 2 | 123 | 12 |
| 3 | 1 | -1 |
| 4 | -12 | -123 |
| 5 | -1234 | -12345 |
| 6 | 9876 | 987 |
| 7 | 98 | 8 |
| 8 | 9 | 7 |
| 1 | 1234 | 123 |
| 2 | 12 | 1 |
| 3 | 12 | -12 |
| 4 | -123 | -1234 |
| 5 | -12345 | -123456 |
| 6 | 987 | 98 |
| 7 | 9 | -9 |
| 8 | 1234 | 1234 |
+------+---------+---------+
NEWDATA_FACTOR1:
+------+---------+---------+---------+--------------+
| time | factor1 | factor2 | mean | stddev |
+------+---------+---------+---------+--------------+
| 5 | -12345 | -123456 | -6789.5 | 7856.6634458 |
| 5 | -1234 | -12345 | -6789.5 | 7856.6634458 |
| 4 | -123 | -1234 | -67.5 | 78.488852712 |
| 4 | -12 | -123 | -67.5 | 78.488852712 |
| 3 | 1 | -1 | 6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 7 | 9 | -9 | 53.5 | 62.932503526 |
| 8 | 9 | 7 | 621.5 | 866.20580695 |
| 3 | 12 | -12 | 6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 2 | 12 | 1 | 67.5 | 78.488852712 |
| 7 | 98 | 8 | 53.5 | 62.932503526 |
| 2 | 123 | 12 | 67.5 | 78.488852712 |
| 6 | 987 | 98 | 5431.5 | 6285.472178 |
| 1 | 1234 | 123 | 6789.5 | 7856.6634458 |
| 8 | 1234 | 1234 | 621.5 | 866.20580695 |
| 6 | 9876 | 987 | 5431.5 | 6285.472178 |
| 1 | 12345 | 1234 | 6789.5 | 7856.6634458 |
+------+---------+---------+---------+--------------+
NEWDATA_FACTOR2:
+------+---------+---------+----------+--------------+
| time | factor1 | factor2 | mean | stddev |
+------+---------+---------+----------+--------------+
| 5 | -12345 | -123456 | -67900.5 | 78567.341564 |
| 5 | -1234 | -12345 | -67900.5 | 78567.341564 |
| 4 | -123 | -1234 | -678.5 | 785.5956339 |
| 4 | -12 | -123 | -678.5 | 785.5956339 |
| 3 | 12 | -12 | -6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 7 | 9 | -9 | -0.5 | 12.02081528 |
| 3 | 1 | -1 | -6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 2 | 12 | 1 | 6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 8 | 9 | 7 | 620.5 | 867.62002052 |
| 7 | 98 | 8 | -0.5 | 12.02081528 |
| 2 | 123 | 12 | 6.5 | 7.7781745931 |
| 6 | 987 | 98 | 542.5 | 628.61792847 |
| 1 | 1234 | 123 | 678.5 | 785.5956339 |
| 6 | 9876 | 987 | 542.5 | 628.61792847 |
| 1 | 12345 | 1234 | 678.5 | 785.5956339 |
| 8 | 1234 | 1234 | 620.5 | 867.62002052 |
+------+---------+---------+----------+--------------+