What's New

What's New in the SAS 9.2 Macro Language Facility

The Macro Language Facility has the following enhancements:

new automatic macro variables that enable you to reduce the amount of text that is needed to perform common tasks
new macro system options that enable you to define and redefine macros and to better control their execution
new %MACRO statement options that enable you to create secure macros and to integrate macros with other parts of your SAS programs
new autocall macros and macro functions that support DBCS

The &SYSENCODING automatic macro variable contains the name of the current session encoding.
The &SYSERRORTEXT automatic macro variable contains the text of the last error message formatted for display on the SAS log.
The &SYSHOSTNAME automatic macro variable contains the host name of a computer.
The &SYSLOGAPPLNAME automatic macro variable contains the value of the LOGAPPLNAME system option. This automatic macro variable is for SAS 9.2 Phase 2 and later.
The &SYSTCPIPHOSTNAME automatic macro variable contains the host names of the local and remote computers when multiple TCP/IP stacks are supported.
The &SYSWARNINGTEXT automatic macro variable contains the text of the last warning message formatted for display on the SAS log.

The MCOMPILE system option allows new definitions of macros.
The MEXECNOTE system option displays the macro execution information in the SAS log at macro invocation.
The MEXECSIZE system option specifies the maximum macro size that can be executed in memory.
The MINOPERATOR system option specifies that the macro processor recognizes and evaluates the mnemonic IN and the special character # as logical operators when evaluating arithmetic or logical expressions during the execution of the macro.
The MREPLACE system option enables existing macros to be redefined.

The MINDELIMITER= option specifies a value that overrides the MINDELIMITER= global option during a macro session.
The SECURE option enables you to write secure macros that protect intellectual property contained in stored compiled macros.
The MINOPERATOR option specifies that the macro processor recognizes and evaluates the mnemonic IN and the special character # as logical operators when evaluating arithmetic or logical expressions during the execution of the macro.

In SAS 9.2 release, there are new autocall macros and macro functions that support East Asian double-byte character sets. The autocall macros and macro functions for DBCS were not documented until the third maintenance release for SAS 9.2.