Macro Statements

%SYSEXEC Statement

Issues operating environment commands.

Type:

Macro statement

Restriction:

Allowed in macro definitions or open code

Syntax

%SYSEXEC<command>;

no argument: puts you into operating environment mode under most operating environments, where you can issue operating environment commands and return to your SAS session.
command: is any operating environment command. If command contains a semicolon, use a macro quoting function.

Details

The %SYSEXEC statement causes the operating environment to immediately execute the command you specify and assigns any return code from the operating environment to the automatic macro variable SYSRC. Use the %SYSEXEC statement and the automatic macro variables SYSSCP and SYSSCPL to write portable macros that run under multiple operating environments.

Operating Environment Information: These items related to the use of the %SYSEXEC statement are operating environment specific:

the availability of the %SYSEXEC statement in batch processing, noninteractive mode, or interactive line mode.
the way you return from operating environment mode to your SAS session after executing the %SYSEXEC statement with no argument.
the commands to use with the %SYSEXEC statement.
the return codes you get in the automatic macro variable SYSRC.

For details, see the SAS documentation for your operating environment. [cautionend]

Comparisons

The %SYSEXEC statement is analogous to the X statement and the X windowing environment command. However, unlike the X statement and the X windowing environment command, host commands invoked with %SYSEXEC should not be enclosed in quotation marks.

Top of Page