str_varlist

• Output a formatted/zipped list of dataset and variables:

%let %str_varlist(var, ds=, rep=%quote(, ), sep=%quote( ));

• Split a list of strings into a pair of dataset/variable strings, possibly trimming those that do not define actual variables in a dataset:

%str_varlist(var, _varlst_=, _dslst_=, rep=%quote(, ), sep=%quote( ), lib=WORK, check=no);

Arguments

• var : a list of strings/elements of the form var or dsn.var where the dsn represents some dataset and var, some variable;
• ds= : (option) Input reference dataset
• _dslst_ : (option) Output list of datasets
• _varlst_ : (option) Output list of variables
• sep, rep : (option) Replacement string
• check=no : (option) Boolean flag (yes/no) set to check the variables' existence
• lib : (option) name of the input library; by default: WORK is used.

Returns

_varlst_ : name of the macro variable used to store the elements from var that actually define existing variables/fields in dsn.

Example

Let us consider the following simple examples:

%let var=a b y z c;
%let ds=tab;
%let lvar=%str_varlist(&var, ds=&ds);

returns list=tab.a, tab.b, tab.y, tab.z, tab.c, while

%_dstest5;
%let var=_dstest5.a,_dstest5.b,_dstest5.y,_dstest5.z,_dstest5.c;
%let ds=;
%let var=;
%str_varlist(%quote(&var), _varlst_=var, _dslst_=ds, check=yes, rep=%quote( ), sep=%quote(,));

sets var=a b c and ds=_dstest5 _dstest5 _dstest5.

Run macro %_example_str_varlist for more examples.

Note

In short, given some variables var and ds, the first-case (most common) scenario ran through the command str_varlist(&var, ds=&ds) actually runs:

%let varlst=&ds..%list_quote(&var, mark=_EMPTY_, sep=&sep, rep=&rep%quote(&ds..));

which is also equivalent to:

%let varlst=%list_append(%list_ones(%length(&var, sep=&sep), item=&ds), &var, zip=%quote(.), rep=%quote(, ));

See also

%str_dslist, %var_check, %ds_contents, %ds_check, %list_append.