DATA Step Functions for Macros

SYMGLOBL Function

Returns an indication as to whether a macro variable is global in scope to the DATA step during DATA step execution.

Type:

DATA step function

Syntax
Required Argument
Details
Examples

Syntax

SYMGLOBL (argument)

Required Argument

argument

can be one of the following items:

the name of a macro variable within quotation marks but without an ampersand
the name of a DATA step character variable, specified with no quotation marks, that contains a macro variable name
a character expression that constructs a macro variable name

Details

The SYMGLOBL function searches enclosing scopes for the indicated macro variable and returns a value of 1 if the macro variable is found in the global symbol table, otherwise it returns a 0. See Scopes of Macro Variables for more information about the global and local symbol tables and macro variable scopes.

Examples

The following example of the %TEST macro contains the SYMGLOBL function:

 %global x;
       %macro test;
       %local y;
       data null;
          if symglobl("x") then put "x is GLOBAL";
                                 else put "x is not GLOBAL";
          if symglobl("y") then put "y is GLOBAL";
                                 else put "y is not GLOBAL";
          if symglobl("z") then put "z is GLOBAL";
                                 else put "z is not GLOBAL";
       run;
       %mend test;
       %test;

In the previous example, executing the %TEST macro, which contains the SYMGLOBL function, writes the following output to the SAS log:

 
x is GLOBAL
y is not GLOBAL
z is not GLOBAL

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