Question

What is the purpose of a macro variable? How do I create one? How do I reference the macro variable?

a) A macro variable stores metadata. You create one using the %DEFINE statement and reference it with &VARNAME.
b) A macro variable stores numeric values. You create one using the %MACRO statement and reference it with %VARNAME.
c) A macro variable stores text or numeric values. You create one using the %LET statement and reference it with &VARNAME.
d) A macro variable stores datasets. You create one using the %DATA statement and reference it with $VARNAME.

Answer 1

A macro variable in SAS stores text or numeric values and is created using the %LET statement. It is referenced using the &VARNAME syntax, where VARNAME is the name of the variable.

Step-by-step explanation:

The purpose of a macro variable is to store text or numeric values that can be used throughout a SAS program to dynamically change code or insert values in a more efficient and maintainable way. You can create a macro variable using the %LET statement. To reference a macro variable, you use the &VARNAME syntax, where VARNAME is the name of the macro variable you've defined.

For example, if you want to create a macro variable that stores the year, you could use the following code:

%LET currentYear = 2023;

Then, you can reference this macro variable in your code like this:

data work.sales;
set work.transactions;
year = ¤tYear;
run;

This will assign the value stored in currentYear to the variable year in the sales dataset.