SUPPORT / SAMPLES & SAS NOTES
Sample 24841: Executing Your Stored Formats at Start-Up
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When I have formats in a permanent catalog, or seek to add the formats of an application I am starting, I issue a statement like:
option %addoptn( fmtsearch, sasuser ) ;
The same macro allows me to add a fileref to sasautos like
filename mymacs 'h:\sas\myMacros' ;
option %addoptn( sasautos, mymacs );
The macro has a parameter to place the new path in front or at the back of the existing option, defaulting to at=front.
The macro uses the getoption() function to retrieve the existing SAS option value, inside %sysfunc() so that it can execute in the macro environment. The only complicated thing about the macro, is that these system options may be in parenthesis, which must be removed before prefixing or suffixing with the additional path:
%macro addoptn( op, addn, at=front );
%local mainpart rebuild ;
%let mainpart = %sysfunc( compress( %sysfunc( getoption( &op ) ), () )) ;
/* compress to remove the (parenthesis) */
%if &at= front %then
%do;
%let rebuild = &addn &mainpart ;
%end;
%else
%do;
%let rebuild = &mainpart &addn ;
%end;
&op = ( &rebuild )
%mend addoptn;
/******** demo
option %addoptn( sasautos, mymacs )
%addoptn( fmtsearch, oldbits, at=end ) ; *******/
This Quick Tip was submitted by Peter Crawford, an independent consultant and SAS partner in the UK.
You can contact Peter at peter.crawford@blueyonder.co.uk.
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