macro_exist

Verify the existence of a given macro by searching into the set of pre-compiled macros as well as the content of all autocall libraries.

%macro_exist(macro_name, _ans_=);

Argument

macro_name : name of the macro to check the existence of; the macro may already be compiled or would be brought in via autocall.

Returns:

_ans_ : name of the variable storing the result of the test, e.g.:

• 1 when the macro %macro_name is found in the catalog macros compiled for the current session (e.g., catalog WORK.SASMACR or WORK.SASMAC1, see note below),
• 2 when it is found in the catalog of pre-compiled macros (e.g., catalog WORK.MSTORE),
• 3 when it is found in set of autocall macros (i.e., set through SASAUTOS),
• 0 otherwise.

Notes

1. The macro %macro_exist is an adaptation of S. Bass's original %execute_macro.sas macro, so as to keep only the existence testing. Original source code (no disclaimer) is available at https://github.com/scottbass/SAS/blob/master/Macro/execute_macro.sas.
2. Given a macro name, we determine if it would be executed if invoked:
   • first check to see if it's pre-compiled: if not in compiled form, then
   • try to locate in the list of all sasautos directories. See reference 2 below.
3. Note that, with SAS version 9.3, the SAS-supplied macro %sysmacexist checks for the existence of a macro in WORK.SASMACR and SOURCE.SASMACR only. However, on Linux, esp. in EG, compiled macros are saved to WORK.SASMAC1 instead of WORK.SASMACR. For SAS versions prior to 9.3, we implemented our own search macro (see reference 3 below).
4. See also R. Langston %macro_exists.sas macro that searches for pre-compiled macros and all autocall libraries.

References

1. Langston, R. (2013): "A macro to verify a macro exists".
2. Johnson, J. (2010): "OBJECT_EXIST: A macro to check if a specified object exists".
3. "How to determine whether a macro exists within a SAS session".

See also

%macro_execute, SYSMACEXIST.