SAS Programming for Enterprise Guide Users, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Macros: Reusable Programming

• Introduction 190

• What Is a Macro? 190

• Converting a Program to a Macro 190

• Converting a Task to a Macro 194

• Complex Prompts 195

• Choosing Your Path 199

• Including Macros 201

• The Biggest Exploding Pie 202

• Summary 206

• Where to Look for More Information 206

• Exercises 206

Introduction

In Chapter 3 we looked at the idea of macro variables, those that SAS sets up for you and the ones you can create yourself. Although these variables are very powerful, they are only a small part of the SAS macro facility.

In this chapter we look first at how you can make any program reusable by converting it into a SAS macro. We also discuss how you can make your macros more flexible by passing parameters to them and by using conditional processing. ...