SAS Macro Language: Reference

Defining and Calling Macros

Macros are compiled programs that you can invoke (or call) in a submitted SAS program or from a SAS command prompt. Like macro variables, you generally use macros to generate text. However, macros provide additional capabilities:

Macros can contain programming statements that enable you to control how and when text is generated.
Macros can accept parameters. This allows you to write generic macros that can serve a number of uses.

To compile a macro, you must submit a macro definition. The general form of a macro definition is

%MACRO macro-name;
<macro_text>

%MEND <macro_name>;

where macro_name is a unique SAS name that identifies the macro and macro_text is any combination of macro statements, macro calls, text expressions, or constant text.

When you submit a macro definition, the macro processor compiles the definition and produces a member in the session catalog. The member consists of compiled macro program statements and text. The distinction between compiled items and noncompiled (text) items is important for macro execution. Examples of text items include:

macro variable references
nested macro calls
macro functions, except %STR and %NRSTR
arithmetic and logical macro expressions
text to be written by %PUT statements
field definitions in %WINDOW statements
model text for SAS statements and SAS Display Manager System commands.

When you want to call the macro, you use the form

%macro_name

A later section illustrates calling a macro. The following section illustrates how the macro processor compiles and stores a macro definition.

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