SAS Macro Language

Duration: 2 Days

Course Description
This course focuses on the components of the SAS macro facility and how to design, write, and debug macro systems. Emphasis is placed on understanding how programs with and without macro code are processed.

Course Contents Overview of the Macro Facility
	understanding applications for the SAS macro language
	understanding how a SAS program is tokenized, compiled, and executed
	understanding how the macro processor affects program flow
Using Macro Variables
	using automatic macro variables
	creating macro variables
	substituting the value of a macro variable anywhere in a program
	using macro variables
	printing macro variable values in the SAS log
	using macro quoting functions
Macro Facility Interfaces
	creating macro variables during DATA step execution
	understanding how macro variables can be indirectly referenced
	resolving macro variables during DATA step execution
	understanding the types of applications that require the functionality of the SYMGET function and SYMPUT routine
	creating macro variables during PROC SQL execution using the INTO clause

Prerequisites Before attending this course, you should have completed the SAS Programming II: Manipulating Data with the DATA Step course or have equivalent knowledge. Specifically, you should be able to
	use a DATA step to read from or write to a SAS data set or external file
	use DATA step programming statements such as IF-THEN/ELSE, DO WHILE, DO UNTIL, and iterative DO
	use SAS data set options such as DROP=, KEEP=, and OBS=
	use character functions such as SUBSTR, SCAN, INDEX, and UPCASE
	form subsets of data using the WHERE clause
	create and use SAS date values and constants
	use SAS procedures such as SORT, PRINT, CONTENTS, MEANS, FREQ, TABULATE, and CHART.

Software Addressed
This course addresses the following software product(s): Base SAS. This course is also appropriate for users of earlier releases of SAS software, although some features may not be present in earlier releases.

Course Materials
Each student receives a hardcopy of the course notes and can also choose to take home a copy of the course data.