A traceback error is generated when referencing a non-existent macro in a %SYSMACDELETE statement.

There are a few steps involved when encountering this traceback error. First, no macro has been compiled within a SAS® session, meaning that there is no WORK.SASMACR catalog. Second, the %SYSMACDELETE statement is used to check for a macro that does not exist. The combination of these two steps causes a traceback error shown below, and SAS terminates.

ERROR:  An exception has been encountered.
Please contact technical support and provide them with the following traceback information:

The SAS task name is [Language Processor]
Exception occurred at (0494E730)
Task Traceback
 /* traceback information here */

To circumvent the problem, compile a macro before using the %SYSMACDELETE statement. For example:

%macro test;
%mend test;

%sysmacdelete bb;

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