How to call macro from  one SAS program in another SAS program?

Hi there labradorchik,

As someone new to SAS you have a little confusion which is understandable.

First to call a macro the code is

----

"%mymacro(repl1, repl2)"

not

"&mymacro"

& introduces macro variables which give you a straight substitution of current value of the macro variable into your code

% introduces some sort of macro processing, in this case definition of a macro (%macro) or calling up of a macro (%mymacro).  It also introduces macro processing of macro functions - %substr()

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Inside your macro you have used nums and rcode (as formal parameters) which are the same names you will need to use as actual parameters.  There is nothing wrong with doing that, except it can make it easier for you to make a mistake in the calling sequence, especially if you use the macro in more than one place.

In the macro definition I would tend to use a name like NN and RC (instead of nums and rcode) and then when calling the macro I would show the actual replacements by
%mymacro(nums, rcode)

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Note there is no need to have a semicolon after the macro call.  If you put one there then SAS will insert a semicolon in the code stream after inserting the macro code, which is almost always OK, but it is not hard to construct macro sequences where you do not want a semicolon.  Beware!

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It is perfectily legit to call a macro up inside the proc (proc print in this case), but the resolved macro code must be appropriate for proc print.  In this case the code inside your macro is not appropriate for proc print.

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Your macro definition is OK using "positional parameters", but here you should also consider using "keyword parameters", just to help you not make mistakes.  For example use NN and RC as formal parameters and default values with a bit of meaning or (perhaps in the case of a constant a useful value like ..., limit=100, ...)

Example of such a sequence -

%macro numbersTest(NN=numberField, RC=returnCode);
...     
      if substr(&NN, 7, 2) = "62" then &RC = "1";
....

%mend numbersTest;

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and call up the macro using the actual variable names you are using in this instance

%numbersTest(NN=nums, RC=rcode)

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Your test list of numbers needs to be extended to include more tests, especially a test case like

01234444444
21237666666
06666666666
44444444444
00000000000

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to test the later part of your macro.

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Your input data step is trying to read rcode, which is set to missing because of the TRUNCOVER.  This works OK, but is not the best way of doing things.  You dont need to read in rcode.  Just using it (you could say  rcode = "0";) is enough to get it defined.

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I assume that you want to use  rcode  as the return code to test.  Your "where statement"  uses nums

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Something like the following would be necessary to get this to run.

/* first define the macro  */

%macro numbersTest(numbs,rcode);
  if verify(trim(&numbs),"0123456789") > 0 then
    do;
      &numbs =" ";
      &rcode="1";
    end;

  else if length(trim(&numbs)) ^=10           then
    do;
      &numbs =" ";
      &rcode="1";
    end;

  else if length(substr(&numbs,1,10)) =10  then
    do;
      if verify(trim(&numbs),"0123456789") = 0 then
        do;
          &rcode="0";
        end;

if substr(&numbs,1,1) in ("0","1")        then
        do;
          &numbs =" ";
          &rcode="1";
        end;

      else if substr(&numbs,4,1) in ("0","1")   then
        do;
          &numbs =" ";
          &rcode="1";
        end;

      else if substr(&numbs,2,1)="9"            then
        do;
          &numbs =" ";
          &rcode="1";
        end;

   isame = 1;
      do i = 5 to 10;
        if substr(&numbs,4,1) not = substr(&numbs,i,1) then 
           isame = 0;
      end;

      if isame = 1 then
        do;
          &numbs =" ";
          &rcode="1";
        end;
    end;
%mend numbersTest; 


/*  Now run the testing code */

DATA testnbrs;
  INFILE 'phonenum.dat' TRUNCOVER;
    INPUT numbs $ 1-10;
 
  /* now check the validity of the phone numbers */
  /* variable rcode is set to reflect the validity of numbs */
  %numbersTest(numbs, rcode)

RUN;

/* summary print */
PROC PRINT DATA = testnbrs NOOBS;
  WHERE  (rcode = "0");

   TITLE "Testing ALL Phone Numbers, numbers with rcode of zero";

RUN; 


PROC PRINT DATA = testnbrs NOOBS;
  WHERE  (rcode = "1");

   TITLE "Testing ALL Phone Numbers, numbers with rcode of one";

RUN; 

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Hope this helps,

We all have been through these problems and there is nothing worse than making mistakes because some concepts are a bit mysterious. I have fallen into many traps that way.

Ian