SAS Macro Language: Reference

Deciding How Much Text to Mask with a Macro Quoting Function

In each of the following statements, the macro processor treats the masked semicolons as text:

%let p=%str(proc print; run;);
%let p=proc %str(print;) %str(run;);
%let p=proc print%str(;) run%str(;);

The value of P is the same in each case:

proc print; run;

The results of the three %LET statements are the same because when you mask text with a macro quoting function, the macro processor quotes only the items that the function recognizes. Other text enclosed in the function remains unchanged. Therefore, the third %LET statement is the minimalist approach to macro quoting. However, masking "too much" text with a macro quoting function is harmless and results in code that is much easier to read (such as the first %LET statement).

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