Macro Facility Word Rules

The following rules apply to the macro facility.
  • Do not use a reserved word as the name of a macro, a macro variable, or a macro label. Reserved words include words reserved by both the macro facility and the operating environment. When a macro name is a macro facility reserved word, the macro processor issues a warning, and the macro is neither compiled nor available for execution. The macro facility reserves the words listed under Reserved Words for internal use.
  • Do not prefix the name of a macro language element with SYS because SAS reserves the SYS prefix for the names of macro language elements supplied with SAS software.
  • Do not prefix macro variables names with SYS, AF, or DMS in order to avoid macro name conflicts.