System Options for Macros

MINOPERATOR System Option

Controls whether the macro processor recognizes and evaluates the IN (#) logical operator.

Valid in:

Configuration file

OPTIONS window

OPTIONS statement

SAS invocation

Type:

System option

Default:

NOMINOPERATOR

PROC OPTIONS GROUP=

MACRO

Syntax
Details

Syntax

MINOPERATOR | NOMINOPERATOR

MINOPERATOR: causes the macro processor to recognize and evaluate both the mnemonic operator IN or the special character # as a logical operator in expressions.
NOMINOPERATOR: causes the macro processor to recognize both the mnemonic operator IN and the special character # as regular characters.

Details

Use the MINOPERATOR system option or in the %MACRO statement if you want to use the IN (#) as operators in expressions:

options minoperator;

To use IN or # as operators in expressions evaluated during the execution of a specific macro, use the MINOPERATOR keyword on the definition of the macro:

%macro macroname / minoperator;

The macro IN operator is similar to the DATA step IN operator, but not identical. The following is a list of differences:

the macro IN operator cannot search a numeric array
the macro IN operator cannot search a character array
a colon (:) is not recognized as a shorthand notation to specify a range, such as 1:10 means 1 through 10. Instead, you use the following in a macro:
```
%eval(3 in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10);
```
the default delimiter for list elements is a blank. For more information, see MINDELIMITER= System Option.

both operands must contain a value.

%put %eval(a IN a b c d); /*Both operands are present. */

If an operand contains a null value, an error is generated.

%put %eval(  IN a b c d); /*Missing first operand. */

%put %eval(a IN); /*Missing second operand. */

Whether the first or second operand contains a null value, the same error is written to the SAS log:

ERROR: Operand missing for IN operator in argument to %EVAL function.

The following example uses the macro IN operator to search a character string:

%if &state in (NY NJ PA) %then %let &region = %eval(&region + 1);

For more information, see Defining Arithmetic and Logical Expressions.

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