Denise,

Good to have you join us :) I am no authority, but Quentin is quiet lately. I assume you have Ian's papers? Check the SESUG proceedings from St. Pete's Beach, I think he contributed one then. I have interleaved some remarks to get you started. I think you were looking in the right direction.

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Denise Figliozzi wrote:

> I’m having a problem with my looping macro variable. > > Data _null_; > Set datasource end=no_more; > call symput('NAME'||left(_n_),FULL_NM); > > if no_more then call symput('offcnt',_n_); > run;

This works, but there may be more elegance and functionality in:

proc sql noprint ;

select distinct trim( left( FULL_NM )) into : name1 - : name9999 from datasouce ;

quit ;

%let offcnt = &sqlobs. ;

> > *** the value inside NAME looks like this : Figliozzi, Denise > > %macro ofcrloop; > %local i; > %do i=1 %to &offcnt.; > > %macro innerloop(rm); > < looping through proc report, etc here > > > %mend innerloop; > %innerloop(&&NAME&i.); > %end; > %mend ofcrloop; > %ofcrloop;

Yikes! My personal preference would be to separate the macro definitions:

%macro innerloop ( rm ) ; %mend innerloop ;

%macro ofcrloop ; %mend ofcrloop ;

Also, be careful of using the semi-colon trailing a macro call:

%innerloop( &&NAME&i. ); ^

> Problem: The macro &&NAME&i. will not resolve correctly because of the > comma between first and last name. So, I can get around this by inserting > quotation around the macrolike so: ‘&&NAMEi.’ > > However, on my report, the output looks like this : ‘Figliozzi, > Denise ‘

The use of the LEFT() and TRIM() functions above will take care of the trailing spaces. COMPBL() may even be useful. I would have thought think that %NRBQUOTE would have worked.

Exactly how are you using &&NAME&i.?

> I have fooled around with quoting functions such as %superq, %nrbquote, % > quote to no avail. Can anyone guide me to the function I need that will > preserve the value with the comma separated name but allow me to pass it > through the macro? > > Thanks for your help. > > Denise Figliozzi > > SAS Programmer > > SunTrust Banks, Inc. > Mail Code GA-ATL-0674 > 303 Peachtree Center Ave., Suite 300 > Atlanta, GA 30303 > voice: 404.230.5547 > fax : 404.658.4083 > ST NET 340-5547 > > Seeing beyond money (sm)

Good luck,

Kevin

Kevin Viel Department of Epidemiology Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322