How to resolve apperant symbolic reference when import into SAS - sas

I am trying to import a .csv file but there is special character like (&) in bp&d in the path, Its showing error as WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved. how can I do it.
proc import
datafile="\pa-storage\bp&d\fot\PRODUCTS\Daa-SQN\ATA\Pss10_ALL_IN_ALL.csv"
out=test
dbms=csv
replace;
getnames=yes; run;

Use single quotes (') instead of double ("). SAS will then interpret the quoted path as a literal string without trying to resolve apparent macro variables (which always start with &) that it contains.
I prefer to use single quotes in general, and only employ double quotes when I explicitly want to include a macro variable.

If you need double quotes for some reason (like there is an actual macro variable you want to resolve), you can use several methods to solve that. The simplest is to wrap the & in a %str().
%put Some &s here;
%put Some %str(&)s here;
You also can wrap a portion of the string (or all of it that you don't want to have macro variables) in %nrstr or any other macro quoting with nr init.
%put %nrstr(Some &s here);

Try doing it on SAS Studio with this code.
upload it to the SAS files and folder(desired folder)
and then use this code=
proc import datafile = '';
out = a
dbms = csv replace;
run;

Related

Searching and importing all .csv files in a target directory

I have to scan a target directory, and import every CSV file there into SAS. I am to use separated macros to fix names of those files (they are intentionaly problematic for SAS) and actually import them. I have XCMD disabled, so pipe solution isn't usable for me (the only solution my course provided me, so several exercises are a bit problematic for me). My attempt so far is this:
%let path=my_dir
%macro fixname(badname);
%if %datatyp(%qsubstr(&badname,1,1))=NUMERIC
%then %let badname=_&badname;
%let badname=
%sysfunc(compress(
%sysfunc(translate(&badname,_,%str( ))),,kn));
%substr(&badname,1,%sysfunc(min(%length(&badname),32)))
%mend fixname;
%macro importcsv(file);
options nonotes nosource;
proc import
datafile="%superq(file)"
out=%fixname(%scan(&file,-2,.\)) replace
dbms=csv;
run;
options notes source;
%mend importcsv;
filename folder "&path";
data FilesInFolder;
length Line 8 File $300;
List = dopen('folder');
do Line = 1 to dnum(List);
File = trim(dread(List,Line));
output;
end;
drop list line;
run;
proc sql noprint;
select * into :file1-
from FilesInFolder
where File like '%.csv'
;
quit;
%macro loop;
%do i=1 %to &sqlobs;
call execute(cats('%importcsv('&path.\&&file&i')'));
%end;
%mend loop;
%loop;
Looking at logs there seems to be something wrong with call execute line, but for the life of me I cannot fix it.
As regards the requested call execute line, this will not work.
call execute(cats('%importcsv('&path.\&&file&i')'));
The cats is not properly constructed. It's unclear why you're even using cats, as you aren't really concatenating anything. It's clear why you need to use it, but not why you're currently using it.
First: you have single quotes around the string, which means it won't resolve the macro variables. That is a problem for you. In particular, you want &i to resolve. You also, though, don't want %importcsv itself to resolve.
Second: you have single quotes inside single quotes, or else you have unquoted text.
The right way to do this is:
call execute(cats('%importcsv(',"&path.\&&file&i.",')'));
The goal here is to make sure %importcsv doesn't resolve - so we wrap it in single quotes - but get the macro variables to resolve - wrapped in double quotes. It would be okay for &path not to resolve (as it's a global variable), but &&file&i absolutely needs to, since it's what you are looping over.
The final ')' is unnecessary (it could be included inside the double quotes), but I like it for readability (it makes it obvious that it's the end of the macro invocation). In this case it's unimportant, but sometimes the middle bits have more parentheses in them, and it becomes unclear when you have the right number.
All this aside, you're making this much too complicated. Here:
proc sql noprint;
select * into :file1-
from FilesInFolder
where File like '%.csv'
;
quit;
Why not simply put the macro invocation itself?
proc sql noprint;
select cats('%importcsv(',"&path.\",file,')')
into :filelist separated by ' '
from FilesInFolder
where File like '%.csv'
;
quit;
&filelist
Now you have &filelist which contains all of the macro invocations, and you can just invoke them, no macro loop needed.
You can check out my presentation on Writing Code With Your Data if you want to know more about how that works.
Of course, if this is homework and you have to do the first way, it's fine, but in the real world the second way is superior unless you have > 60k characters worth of macro calls.

SAS does not evaluate the content of %PUT

I use this bit outside of any DATA step.
%let sth = 20191111;
%let sthelse=SUBSTR(INPUT(&sth.,12.),1,4);
%put &sthelse.;
It does not yield '2019', which I would expect but rather
SUBSTR(INPUT(20191111,12.),1,4)
What goes wrong here?
Use the macro function %SUBSTR to extract a portion of its argument. Remember, macro values are only character values (not to be confused with data step character variables and values) and have no explicit numeric value, even when the macro value is comprised of all digits.
%let sth = 20191111;
%let first4 = %substr(&sth,1,4);
You are not understanding how the macro pre-processor works. It is just a text replacement tool. It looks for two trigger character, % and & to see where it needs to do work. You can see both at work in your statement:
%let sthelse=SUBSTR(INPUT(&sth.,12.),1,4);
So the % will trigger the macro processor and it will recognize %let as a macro statement. Then the & trigger will cause it to treat &sth. as a macro variable reference to be replaced. So it replaces that and you end up with this statement.
%let sthelse=SUBSTR(INPUT(20191111,12.),1,4);
Since there are no more macro triggers SAS happily stores that text into the macro variable sthelse.
You also seem confused about how numbers and character strings work. If you write this code:
data x;
x=INPUT("20191111",12.);
run;
You would be asking SAS to convert the string 20191111 into the number 20,191,111. So X would be a numeric variable. So it would have the same effect as if you ran this statement instead.
x=20191111;
Now if you then ask SAS to try to use the SUBSTR() function on that NUMERIC value by doing this:
y=substr(x,1,4);
SAS will need to first convert X into a character string. It will happily do that for you, but it will use the BEST12. format to make the conversion. So your number 20,191,111 will become the string
20191111
So it will have 4 leading spaces. Then if you take the first four characters you end up with four spaces.
Did you intend to run this code instead?
%let sth = 20191111;
%let sthelse=%substr(&sth,1,4);
That will use the MACRO function %SUBSTR() to take the first four characters of the string you have given it. Since you gave it the string 20191111 (to the macro processor everything is a string, no quotes needed) the result will be the string 2019.
SUBSTR is datastep function.
Try to use it into macro function:
%let sth = 20191111;
%let sthelse=%sysfunc(SUBSTR(%sysfunc(INPUTn(&sth.,12.)),1,4));
%put &sthelse.;
There isn't macro function named substr and input, this function is "data step functions". You should use %sysfunc statement. And macro variables stores as text, so you shouldn't use input function on it.
%let sth = 20191111;
%let sthelse=%sysfunc(SUBSTR(&sth.,1,4));
%put &=sthelse.;
STHELSE=2019
UPDATE(thanks #Tom):
There is macro function %substr, so you can use %SUBSTR(&sth.,1,4) instead of %sysfunc(SUBSTR(&sth.,1,4)).

sas make directory with mnemonic in the folder name

I'm trying to create a folder with the character "&" in the name
I've tried the %superq function which seems to interpret correctly the macro variable
x "cd c:\Users\avibe_000\Dropbox\htdocs\Landa2018\LDPdepartments\";
data _null_;
call symput('mv1','Smith&Jones');
run;
%let testmv1=%superq(mv1);
%put &testmv1 ;
x "mkdir &testmv1";
The code works but creates a folder "Smith" and not "Smith&Jones" as expected
The DCREATE function will create a sub-folder. In macro use nrstr to pass a non-resolved value to the function. %SUPERQ is not, pre se, for value assignment, but for as-is value retrieval based on macro variable name.
filename parent 'C:\Temp';
%put NOTE: parent(path)=%qsysfunc(pathname(parent));
%let rc = %qsysfunc(DCREATE(%nrstr(Smith&Jones),parent));
filename sj 'C:\Temp\Smith&Jones';
%put NOTE: sj(path)=%qsysfunc(pathname(sj));
The macro processor tries to process macro triggers inside of double quotes. But it doesn't inside of single quotes. Also the Windows command line will need quotes around the value with an & in it.
>mkdir a&b
'b' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
>mkdir "a&b"
So change your process to enclose the command in single quotes and the directory name in double quotes.
data _null_;
call symputX('command',quote('mkdir "Smith&Jones"',"'"));
run;
x &command ;
#Tom Nice answer.
And you just been so closed to your own way:
data _null_;
call symput('mv1','d:\Users\avibe_000\Dropbox\htdocs\Landa2018\LDPdepartments\Smith&Jones');
run;
%let testmv1=%str(%")%superq(mv1)%str(%");
%put &testmv1;
x mkdir &testmv1;
You can use the mf_mkdir macro in the SASjs macrocore library - this also uses dcreate() and recursively creates any subdirectories that are needed. It is also delivered as a macro function (so can be used pretty much anywhere in your code).
/* import and compile (or go there and copy paste into your code */
filename mc url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sasjs/core/main/base/mf_mkdir.sas";
%inc mc;
/* execute */
%mf_mkdir(/tmp/this %nrstr(&) that)
result:

SAS macro variable issue- 'File Name value exceeds maximum length'

I'm trying to leverage macro variables (assigned via %LET) for PROC IMPORTS but it's causing the file name to exceed 201 characters.
(ERROR: File Name value exceeds maximum length of 201 characters)
Is there a different way to define variables so that they are passed as values instead of functions?
My old datafile string ends
DATAFILE="...Files_Submitted\201612\Reconcile\Q42016 Principal balances.xls"
I have changed it to
DATAFILE="...Files_Submitted\&yrmm.\Reconcile\&quarter. Principal balances.xls"
Using the following variables.
%LET EOLM= INTNX('MONTH',today(),-&MonthsAgo.);
%LET yrmm= COMPRESS(year(&EOLM.)||PUT(month(&EOLM.),z2.));
%LET qtr = COMPRESS(year(&EOLM.)||COMPRESS('Q'||CEIL(month(&EOLM.)/3)));
Thanks in advance for any/all assistance.
You're not actually passing things the right way here - you're mixing two different things, which is causing your issue.
You can either resolve the results of these functions in your macro variables, OR you can store the function calls and treat this as if you'd typed the functions into the data step - so use CATS or something to combine them.
As it is, you're ending up with a filename like "\\path\to\COMPRESS(INTNX(MONTH...", not with the results of those functions, hence your problem.
So, one option:
DATAFILE= cats("...Files_Submitted\",&yrmm.,"\Reconcile\",&quarter.,"Principal balances.xls";
That would let the functions provide their values as you expect.
The other option is to use %SYSFUNC to ask the values to be resolved in the macro variables. This is the more common way, though certainly neither is really specifically better for all purposes.
%LET EOLM= %sysfunc(INTNX(MONTH,%sysfunc(today()),-&MonthsAgo.));
And similar for the other two. Note that I remove the quotes around MONTH as quotes are not used in %SYSFUNC calls (unless you want to use quote characters themselves, but not as string delimiters).
%LET yrmm= %sysfunc(year(&EOLM.))%sysfunc(month(&EOLM.),z2.);
Note here I put the format in the SYSFUNC call directly; also note that we do not use concatenation characters in macro variables (they just produce text) and typically you don't need to use COMPRESS (though not always).
%LET qtr = %sysfunc(year(&EOLM.))Q%sysfunc(CEIL(%sysevalf(%sysfunc(month(&EOLM.))/3)));
Here we use %SYSEVALF to do the math (normally you can't have noninteger math in macro syntax). We also remove quotes from Q and just place it in line.
Putting it all together:
%let monthsAgo = 3;
%LET EOLM= %sysfunc(INTNX(MONTH,%sysfunc(today()),-&MonthsAgo.));
%put &=EOLM;
EOLM=20789
%LET yrmm= %sysfunc(year(&EOLM.))%sysfunc(month(&EOLM.),z2.);
%put &=yrmm;
YRMM=201612
%LET qtr = %sysfunc(year(&EOLM.))Q%sysfunc(CEIL(%sysevalf(%sysfunc(month(&EOLM.))/3)));
%put &=qtr;
QTR=2016Q4
Of course more easy might have been to use formats for yrmm/qtr...
%let yrmm = %sysfunc(putn(&eolm.,yymmn6.));
%let qtr = %sysfunc(putn(&eolm.,yyq6.));
%put &=yrmm &=qtr;
Or even (and this might be getting a bit cute) removing the %SYSFUNC from &EOLM and letting the %SYSFUNC format option handle the formatting. Note here EOLM does not store a number, but stores the text you see on the screen, and the number doesn't get resolved until YRMM or QTR is defined.
%LET EOLM= INTNX(MONTH,%sysfunc(today()),-&MonthsAgo.);
%let yrmm = %sysfunc(&eolm.,yymmn6.);
%let qtr = %sysfunc(&eolm.,yyq6.);
%put &=yrmm &=qtr;

SAS adding unwanted spaces to file names when macro variables are included

I'm creating a text file with SAS and I'm using a macro variable with a date in my text file's name to make it distinct from other similar files.
The problem I'm experiencing:
SAS is adding two unwanted spaces in the middle of the file name. The unwanted spaces are placed directly before the text generated by my macro variable
I'm certain this has everything to do with my macro variable being used, but on its own, the variable doesn't contain any spaces. Below is my code:
proc format;
picture dateFormat
other = '%Y%0m%0d%0H%0M' (datatype=datetime);
run;
data _null_;
dateTime=datetime();
call symput('dateTime', put(dateTime,dateFormat.));
run;
%LET FILE = text_text_abc_&dateTime..txt;
filename out "/location/here/&FILE" termstr=crlf;
data _null_; set flatfile;
/*file content is created in here*/
run;
The exported file name will look like this:
NOTE: The file OUT is:
Filename=/location/here/text_text_abc_ 201702010855.txt
If it helps, I'm using SAS E-Guide 7.1.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks, all!
You need to assign an appropriate default length to your picture format. SAS is applying a default default length of 14 but you need 12, e.g.
proc format;
picture dateFormat (default=12)
other = '%Y%0m%0d%0H%0M' (datatype=datetime);
run;
Use call symputx() instead of call symput(), then SAS will automatically strip the leading and trailing blanks from the value written to the macro variable. You should really only use call symput() in the rare cases where you want the macro variable value to have leading or trailing blanks.
Run this little program to see the difference.
data _null_;
str=' XX ';
call symput('var1',str);
call symputX('var2',str);
run;
%put |&var1|;
%put |&var2|;