What’s New in the SAS 9.4 Macro Facility

Overview

The Macro Language Facility has the following enhancements:

• new automatic macro variables that enable you to reduce the amount of text that is needed to perform common tasks

• new and enhanced options for macro statements that enable you to create secure macros and to integrate macros with other parts of your SAS programs

New Automatic Macro Variables

• SYSDATASTEPPHASE on page 201 ensures that the macro is being executed as part of the proper phase of a DATA step.

• SYSHOSTINFOLONG on page 211 contains the operating environment information that is displayed when the HOSTINFOLONG option is specified.

• SYSPROCESSMODE on page 219 contains the name of the current SAS session run mode or server type.

• SYSTIMEZONE on page 226 contains the time zone name based on the current value of the TIMEZONE option.

• SYSTIMEZONEIDENT on page 226 contains the time zone ID based on the current value of the TIMEZONE option.

• SYSTIMEZONEOFFSET on page 227 contains the time zone offset based on the current value of the TIMEZONE option.

New Options for Macro Statements

• The new READONLY on page 304 option for the %GLOBAL statement creates a new read-only global macro variable.

• The new READONLY on page 313 option for the %LOCAL statement creates a new read-only local macro variable.

• In the second maintenance release of SAS 9.4, two new options were added to the %PUT statement. The _READONLY_ option lists all user-defined read-only macro variables, regardless of scope. The _WRITABLE_ option lists all user-defined read and write macro variables, regardless of scope.