Date:         Mon, 10 Feb 2003 19:26:42 -0000
Reply-To:     Roland <roland@RASHLEIGH-BERRY.FSNET.CO.UK>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Roland <roland@RASHLEIGH-BERRY.FSNET.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: utility macro for returning a compressed string

1    %let macvar=aaa:bbb:ccc;
2    %put &macvar;
aaa:bbb:ccc
3    %let macvar=%sysfunc(compress(&macvar,:));
4    %put &macvar;
aaabbbccc


"Kevin Auslander" <kauslander@TERRECRS.COM> wrote in message
news:002c01c2d134$5b5e81a0$6a00a8c0@crs.local...
> I need a utility macro that will compress a the value of a macro
> variable.  It would be used like this:
>
> %let var=%compress(&var,:);
>
> After this statement executes I would want var to equal it's previous
> value with all colons removed.  %compress would work just like the data
> step compress function.  Below is my attempt at writing this utility
> macro.  It does not work.  Does anyone know what's wrong?  Am I on the
> right track?
>
> %macro compress(var,chars);
>
>       data _null_;
>             length var $30000;
>             var = "&var."
>             var =  compress("&var.","&chars.");
>             call symput("var",var);
>       run;
>
>       %sysfunc(putc(&var,$30000.));
>
> %mend;
>
> TIA,
>
> Kevin