The SCL Debugger

Using the SCL Debugger Windows

When a debugging session starts, the debugger SOURCE window opens above the debugger MESSAGE window. The debugger SOURCE window displays the text of the current SCL program. The debugger MESSAGE window echoes the commands that you enter from the debugger command prompt, DEBUG>.

You can enter debugger commands from the following locations:

the debugger command prompt DEBUG>
the main SAS command line, if the command menus are active
the command line at the top of the debugger MESSAGE window, if active. However, each debugger command that you enter from the command line must be preceded with the word SCL, as in this example, which sets a breakpoint at line 10:
```
scl b 10
```

When you enter a debugger command, the SCL debugger

echoes the command in the debugger MESSAGE window
checks the syntax of the command and the parameters that you entered. The debugger returns error messages for any syntax errors and reports the positions of the errors.
prints the results of the command in the debugger MESSAGE window if there are no errors.

Retrieving Previously Entered Commands

If the debugger detects an error in your command, you can retrieve the previous command, fix the error, and press the ENTER key to re-execute the command.

There are two ways to retrieve commands that you previously entered:

Use the ? command, which enables you to retrieve up to the last five commands. This feature recalls a command once after you press ENTER and does not cycle through the commands again.
Define a function key (using the KEYS command) to issue the AGAIN command. Once the key is defined, position the cursor on a line in the debugger MESSAGE window and press the key that is defined as the AGAIN command. The text on that line is displayed on the debugger command line. You can re-edit the line and then re-execute the command or commands.

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