Dynamically create define in a PROC REPORT - sas

I have a dataset(liste_institution) that contain all the name of the variable that I want to "define" in my proc report statement. Here is my code that work when I call my macro not dynamically(%create_institution(815);). If I use the data statement with the call execute(in comment in my code) it not working. The reason seem to be that when I use the call execute the code is not interpreted in a PROC REPORT that is why it give me error.
proc report data = ventes_all_inst4
missing split = "*" nowd
style(header)=[font_weight=bold background = #339966 foreground = white]
style(column)=[cellwidth=15cm];
%macro create_institution(institution);
define TOTAL_&institution. / display "TOTAL*($)" style(column)=[cellwidth=4cm];
%mend;
/* Give error when I use this data step */
/*data _null_;
set liste_institution;
call execute('%create_institution(' || INS || ');');
run;*/
%create_institution(815);
run;
Is there an easy way to create dynamically define statement in a PROC REPORT from a dataset that contain the column name.

Basically, you have a misunderstanding of how macros work and timing. You need to compile the macro list previous to the proc report, but you can't use call execute because that actually executes code. You need to create a macro variable.
Easiest way to do it is like so:
proc sql;
select cats('%create_institution(',ins,')')
into :inslist separated by ' '
from liste_institution
;
quit;
which makes &inslist which is now the list of institutions (with the macro call).
You also may be able to use across variables to allow this to be easier; what you'd have is one row per ins, with a single variable with that value (which defines the column name) and another single variable with the value that goes in the data table portion. Then SAS will automatically create columns for each across value. Across variables are one of the things that makes proc report extremely powerful.

Related

How to use call symput on a specific observation in SAS

I'm trying to convert a SAS dataset column to a list of macro variables but am unsure of how indexing works in this language.
DATA _Null_;
do I = 1 to &num_or;
set CondensedOverrides4 nobs = num_or;
call symputx("Item" !! left(put(I,8.))
,"Rule", "G");
end;
run;
Right now this code creates a list of macro variables Item1,Item2,..ItemN etc. and assigns the entire column called "Rule" to each new variable. My goal is to put the first observation of "Rule" in Item1, the second observation in that column in Item2, etc.
I'm pretty new to SAS and understand you can't brute force logic in the same way as other languages but if there's a way to do this I would appreciate the guidance.
Much easier to create a series of macro variables using PROC SQL's INTO clause. You can save the number of items into a macro variable.
proc sql noprint;
select rule into :Item1-
from CondensedOverrides4
;
%let num_or=&sqlobs;
quit;
If you want to use a data step there is no need for a DO loop. The data step iterates over the inputs automatically. Put the code to save the number of observations into a macro variable BEFORE the set statement in case the input dataset is empty.
data _null_;
if eof then call symputx('num_or',_n_-1);
set CondensedOverrides4 end=eof ;
call symputx(cats('Item',_n_),rule,'g');
run;
SAS does not need loops to access each row, it does it automatically. So your code is really close. Instead of I, use the automatic variable _n_ which can function as a row counter though it's actually a step counter.
DATA _Null_;
set CondensedOverrides4;
call symputx("Item" || put(_n_,8. -l) , Rule, "G");
run;
To be honest though, if you're new to SAS using macro variables to start isn't recommended, there are usually multiple ways to avoid it anyways and I only use it if there's no other choice. It's incredibly powerful, but easy to get wrong and harder to debug.
EDIT: I modified the code to remove the LEFT() function since you can use the -l option on the PUT statement to left align the results directly.
EDIT2: Removing the quotes around RULE since I suspect it's a variable you want to store the value of, not the text string 'RULE'. If you want the macro variables to resolve to a string you would add back the quotes but that seems incorrect based on your question.

Issue Creating a Table based on Macro's Parameter Name

So I will briefly explain my code structure before I dive into the issue.
I've a macro
%Sales (Outdata= , dt =, Outdata2= , Outdata3= );
(
I create a table &outdata by (Select * from XYZ);
Proc SQL;
Create table &Outdata._1 as
(
)
%mend Sales
Now I call the macro
%Sales (Outdata = sales_final_Oct17, dt='2017-10-01');
Libname ABCDEFG
I Create a data set
Data ABCDEFG.all_sales_test;
Set ABCDEFG. all_Sales
sales_final_Oct17_1;
incur_month = month(rept_dt);
run;
Above (1 to 3) is the original code flow and it works fine.
My Problem:
I'm using a dynamic way of generating file name for each month (so that each month I do not manually enter file_name_month and date.
File name code
%let Last_Month = intnx('month', current_date,-1, "beginning");
Name = 'Sales_final';
Last_Month_Name = name|| put(&last_month, monyy7.);
Call SYMPUTX('Last_Month_Name_v', Last_Month_Name);
run;
Call Macro
%Sales(outdata=&Last_Month_Name, dt = 'Dynamic date');
Till this point everything works fine. The moment I create a data set similar to step 3 (above), the code breaks.
Libname ABCDEFG
Data ABCDEFG.all_sales_test;
Set ABCDEFG.all_Sales
Last_Month_Name_1;
incur_month = month(rept_dt);
run;
> Error Message: File ABCDEFG.LAST_MONTH_NAME_1.DATA does not exist.
What should I do to get rid of this error? It seems, if I pass a static name in the macro and then use the same name with "_1" it works fine but when I pass dynamic reference, then the data Set step fails with the above error message.
Any help is much appreciated. I'm new to SAS so excuse me if it's a silly question. Thanks.
In (1) the macro code is using the value of the macro parameter (or local macro variable) OUTDATA to create a dataset. In (2) you are supplying a value for OUTDATA in your call and in (3) you are using the same value again in the set statement.
One way to not have to type the value twice is to store the value into a macro variable then just reference that macro variable's value in steps (2) and (3).
So in (4) you did create a macro variable,Last_Month_Name_v , but you then used the value of a different macro variable, &Last_Month_Name in the macro call. But instead of using the macro variable in the set statement you just referenced some other dataset,Last_Month_Name_1 , that you never mentioned before at all.
Here are the simplified key steps in the process you want for how to create and use the macro variable. I have put in ... to show where I have left out parts of a statement or statements so we can concentrate on the flow of the macro variable and its value.
First you set the macro variable to some name that you want to use. Let's just use anything as the name for this example.
%let last_month_name= anything;
Then you use the value in the macro call to create the dataset. Notice the & before the name, that is what tells the macro processor to replace the name with the value. The period after the name tells the macro processor that is the end of the macro variable name.
%sales(outdata=&last_month_name. .... )
Then you can use the value again later when you want to tell the set statement which dataset to read.
set .... &last_month_name. ;
Now your posted macro %sales does not actually create the dataset named anything. Instead it appears to create a dataset named anything_1. Personally I don't know why that is there, but if you keep it that way then you need add the _1 back to the end of the macro variable's value in the set statement. Just do it in the same way that you did in the macro's code.
set .... &last_month_name._1 ;
Working with macros is one of the harder parts of SAS and can be very confusing to newcomers. Below is a simplified working example that demonstrates the approach I would take.
First we dynamically calculate the name of the table we want to save the results to:
%let current_date = %sysfunc(date());
%let last_month = Sales_final_%sysfunc(intnx(month, &current_date, -1, beginning), monyy7.);
%put &=last_month;
The output from the put statement in the above step is:
LAST_MONTH=Sales_final_OCT2017
Note that in the above code, I'm passing two parameters to %sysfunc(). The first parameter is the call to the intnx() function. The second parameter (monyy7.) is what format to apply to the result being returned from the function call.
Also note that there is no need to concatenate the prefix (Sales_final_) to the %sysfunc() result because when working with the macro language, the result of %sysfunc() is subsituted in place. There is no concatenation operator in the macro language at all - everything is based off of macro substitution.
Then it's a simple case of passing that value into the macro as shown below:
%macro sales(outdata=);
proc sql;
create table &outdata._1 as select * from sashelp.class;
quit;
%mend;
%sales(outdata=&last_month);
You should be able to modify the above into what you need.

Export/Import Attributes of a SAS dataset

I am working with multiple waves of survey data. I have finished defining formats and labels for the first wave of data.
The second wave of data will be different, but the codes, labels, formats, and variable names will all be the same. I do not want to define all these attributes again...it seems like there should be a way to export the PROC CONTENTS information for one dataset and import it into another dataset. Is there a way to do this?
The closest thing I've found is PROC CPORT but I am totally confused by it and cannot get it to run.
(Just to be clear I'll ask the question another way as well...)
When you run PROC CONTENTS, SAS tells you what format, labels, etc. it is using for each variable in the dataset.
I have a second dataset with the exact same variable names. I would like to use the variable attributes from the first dataset on the variables in the second dataset. Is there any way to do this?
Thanks!
So you have a MODEL dataset and a HAVE dataset, both with data in them. You want to create WANT dataset which has data from HAVE, with attributes of MODEL (formats, labels, and variable lengths). You can do this like:
data WANT ;
if 0 then set MODEL ;
set HAVE ;
run ;
This works because when the DATA step compiles, SAS builds the Program Data Vector (PDV) which defines variable attributes. Even though the SET MODEL never executes (because 0 is not true), all of the variables in MODEL are created in the PDV when the step compiles.
Importantly, note that if there are corresponding variables with different lengths, the length from MODEL will determine the length of the variable in WANT. So if HAVE has a variable that is longer than the same-named variable in MODEL, it may be truncated. Options VARLENCHK determines whether or not SAS throws a warning/error if this happens.
That assumes there are no formats/labels on the HAVE dataset. If there is a variable in HAVE that has a format/label, and the corresponding variable in MODEL does not have a format/label, the format/label from HAVE will be applied to WANT.
Sample code below.
data model;
set sashelp.class;
length FavoriteColor $3;
FavoriteColor="Red";
dob=today();
label
dob='BirthDate'
;
format
dob mmddyy10.
;
run;
data have;
set sashelp.class;
length FavoriteColor $10;
dob=today()-1;
FavoriteColor="Orange";
label
Name="HaveLabel"
dob="HaveLabel"
;
format
Name $1.
dob comma.
;
run;
options varlenchk=warn;
data want;
if 0 then set model;
set have;
run;
I'd create an empty dataset based on the existing one, and then use proc append to append the contents to it.
Create some sample data for the second round of data:
data new_data;
age = 10;
run;
Create an empty dataset based on the original data:
proc sql noprint;
create table want like sashelp.class;
quit;
Append the data into the empty dataset, retaining the details from the original:
proc append base=want data=new_data force nowarn;
run;
Note that I've used the force and nowarn options on proc append. This will ensure the data is appended even if differences are found between the two datasets being used. This is expected if you have, for example, format differences. It will also hide things like if columns exist in the new table that aren't in the old table etc. So be careful that this is doing what you want it to. If the behaviour is undesirable, consider using a datastep to append instead (and list the want dataset first).
Welcome to the stack.
If you want to copy the properties of the table without the data within it, you could use PROC SQL or data step with zero rows read in.
This examples copies all information about the SASHELP.CLASS dataset into a brand new dataset. All formats, attributes, labels, the whole thing is copies over. If you want to only copy some of the columns, specify them in select clause instead of asterix.
PROC SQL outobs=0;
CREATE TABLE WANT as SELECT * FROM SASHELP.CLASS;
QUIT;
Regards,
Vasilij

Sas macro with proc sql

I want to perform some regression and i would like to count the number of nonmissing observation for each variable. But i don't know yet which variable i will use. I've come up with the following solution which does not work. Any help?
Here basically I put each one of my explanatory variable in variable. For example
var1 var 2 -> w1 = var1, w2= var2. Notice that i don't know how many variable i have in advance so i leave room for ten variables.
Then store the potential variable using symput.
data _null_;
cntw=countw(&parameters);
i = 1;
array w{10} $15.;
do while(i <= cntw);
w[i]= scan((&parameters"),i, ' ');
i = i +1;
end;
/* store a variable globally*/
do j=1 to 10;
call symput("explanVar"||left(put(j,3.)), w(j));
end;
run;
My next step is to perform a proc sql using the variable i've stored. It does not work as
if I have less than 10 variables.
proc sql;
select count(&explanVar1), count(&explanVar2),
count(&explanVar3), count(&explanVar4),
count(&explanVar5), count(&explanVar6),
count(&explanVar7), count(&explanVar8),
count(&explanVar9), count(&explanVar10)
from estimation
;quit;
Can this code work with less than 10 variables?
You haven't provided the full context for this project, so it's unclear if this will work for you - but I think this is what I'd do.
First off, you're in SAS, use SAS where it's best - counting things. Instead of the PROC SQL and the data step, use PROC MEANS:
proc means data=estimation n;
var &parameters.;
run;
That, without any extra work, gets you the number of nonmissing values for all of your variables in one nice table.
Secondly, if there is a reason to do the PROC SQL, it's probably a bit more logical to structure it this way.
proc sql;
select
%do i = 1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&parameters.));
count(%scan(&parameters.,&i.) ) as Parameter_&i., /* or could reuse the %scan result to name this better*/
%end; count(1) as Total_Obs
from estimation;
quit;
The final Total Obs column is useful to simplify the code (dealing with the extra comma is mildly annoying). You could also put it at the start and prepend the commas.
You finally could also drive this from a dataset rather than a macro variable. I like that better, in general, as it's easier to deal with in a lot of ways. If your parameter list is in a data set somewhere (one parameter per row, in the dataset "Parameters", with "var" as the name of the column containing the parameter), you could do
proc sql;
select cats('%countme(var=',var,')') into :countlist separated by ','
from parameters;
quit;
%macro countme(var=);
count(&var.) as &var._count
%mend countme;
proc sql;
select &countlist from estimation;
quit;
This I like the best, as it is the simplest code and is very easy to modify. You could even drive it from a contents of estimation, if it's easy to determine what your potential parameters might be from that (or from dictionary.columns).
I'm not sure about your SAS macro, but the SQL query will work with these two notes:
1) If you don't follow your COUNT() functions with an identifier such as "COUNT() AS VAR1", your results will not have field headings. If that's ok with you, then you may not need to worry about it. But if you export the data, it will be helpful for you if you name them by adding "...AS "MY_NAME".
2) For observations with fewer than 10 variables, the query will return NULL values. So don't worry about not getting all of the results with what you have, because as long as the table you're querying has space for 10 variables (10 separate fields), you will get data back.

Deleting variable names containing specific string

I'm just starting to learn SAS and wanted to see if anyone knew of a way to delete certain variables from a dataset if they contained a certain word. I'm working with a dataset that contains a huge amount of variables (100+) with the word 'Label' in them and am looking to drop these. Unfortunately the word label comes at the end of the variable name, so I can't do a simple drop label:; Obviously I could individually list all the variables to drop, but I just wanted to see if anyone out there knew of a simpler way to accomplish this task. Thanks for reading and for any help you have to offer up.
Using a the vcolumn table and proc sql to create a macro variable a macro variable:
proc sql noprint;
select trim(compress(name))
into :drop_vars separated by ' '
from sashelp.vcolumn
where libname = upcase('lib1')
and
memname = upcase('table1')
and
upcase(name) like '%LABEL%'
;
quit;
%put &drop_vars.;
data table2;
set table1;
drop &drop_vars.;
run;
the proc sql will create a list of all the variables from table1 in library 'lib1' containing label anywhere in the name and put it into the macro variable called drop_vars. (upcase is used to reduce possibility of case causing an issue)
The data step then uses the drop statement and the drop_vars variable to drop all variables in the list.
Note: Make sure you check the output of the %put statement to ensure you do not drop variables you want to keep
What you need to do is come up with a dataset that contains the variable names, then create a macro variable containing those you want to drop. There are three (or more) options for the first part:
dictionary.columns
sashelp.vcolumn
proc contents output to a dataset
All three give the same result - a dataset of variable names (and other things), which you can then query.
So for example, using PROC SQL's SELECT INTO functionality to create a macro variable:
proc sql;
select name into :droplist separated by ' '
from dictionary.columns
where libname='SASHELP' and memname='CLASS'
and name like '%eigh%';
quit;
(replace eigh with Label for your needs; % is wildcard here)
and then you have a macro variable &droplist, which you can then use in a drop statement.
data want;
set sashelp.class;
drop &droplist;
run;