Unmatched quotation mark SAS - sas

Question

%macro name_modal();
/*Create macro variables which contain the modalities of variables*/
%do i=1 %to &num_Var;
data _null_;
set &lib..Table_variable_modal_&i.;
call symputx('num_Mod'||compress(put(&i,4.)),_N_,"G");
call symputx('table'||compress(put(&i,4.))||'modal'||compress(put(_N_,4.)),compress(&&name_Var&i.),"G");
run;
%end;
/*Display modalities by variable*/
%do i=1 %to &num_Var;
%put &&name_Var&i. has &&num_Mod&i. modalities ;
%do j=1 %to &&num_Mod&i.;
%put %nrstr(&&tableb&i.modal&j.);
%end;
%end;
%mend name_modal;
%name_modal();
I hope the code is self-documenting.
I'll explain the problems here.
Everything is working fine until I pass to the second of the program which serves to display the modalities by variables.
For example when the name of modalities being stocked in the macro variables are like
$100% BLO,
100% COLOR,
AVON & RAGOBERT,
BALLANTINE'S,
L'OREAL,
AT&T,
U-V-A
etc
I fail to use %put properly.
I've tried using %bquote and %nrstr, but the problem persists.
So far, the only solution I can see is to modify the name of the modalities but since the names come from a client, I don't have the possibility to make amendment on the data.
Thank you

Answer 1

After trying a few times, I find %superq could solve this problem. Handling special characters in macro is troublesome. This page provides some useful tips on macro quoting.
I simplified your code here to the following
UPDATE: make it double-loop case.
data test;
input name ~ & $15.;
datalines;
100% BLO
100% COLOR
AVON & RAGOBERT
BALLANTINE'S
L'OREAL
AT&T
U-V-A
;
run;
%macro name_modal();
/*Create macro variables which contain the modalities of variables*/
%do i=1 %to 4;
data _null_;
set test;
call symputx('num_Mod1',_N_,"G");
call symputx('tableb'||compress(put(&i,4.))||'modal'||compress(put(_N_,4.)),name,"G");
run;
%end;
%do i=1 %to 4;
%do j=1 %to 7;
%put %superq(tableb&i.modal&j);
%end;
%end;
%mend name_modal;
%name_modal();
The result will display correctly.
Note that it is %superq(tableb&i.modal&j) not %superq(&&tableb&i.modal&j) as superq accepts macro variable name without extra ampersand.

Answer 2

It is hard to answer the question for all your sample data because I can't recreate your code (missing global macros).
[UPDATE] It is more difficult to get macros to resolve which include characters that need to be masked. Post some code that can be executed, and more help can be provided.
Here is a good link for macro quoting.
This has a really good diagram detailing which macro masking functions to use for different situations.
%Str will work even if a % or & are included in the string, as long as they are followed by a space. %NRSTR if either could be interpreted as a macro variable or macro call.
You can precede a single quote (') or single double quote (") with a percent sign (%), or use BQUOTE or NRBQUOTE (if your character string includes & or %).
Here is a start [UPDATE]:
%Macro Test(var=);
%Put &var;
%Mend test;
%Test(Var=%str($100% BLO)) ;
%Test(Var=%str(100% COLOR)) ;
%Test(Var=%nrstr(100 %COLOR)) ;
%Test(Var=%str(AVON & RAGOBERT)) ;
%Test(Var=%nrstr(AVON &RAGOBERT)) ;
%Test(Var=%str(BALLANTINE%'S)) ;
%Test(Var=%bquote(BALLANTINE'S)) ;
%Test(Var=%str(L%'OREAL)) ;
%Test(Var=%bquote(L'OREAL)) ;
%Test(Var=%nrstr(AT&T)) ;
%Test(Var=%str(U-V-A)) ;