A reference to a preprocessor built-in function in input text is executed by the preprocessor only if the built-in function name is active. The functions are explained in the following table:
| Function Name | Use |
|---|---|
| COMMENT | Converts a CHARACTER expression into a comment. |
| COMPILETIME | Returns a character string containing the current date and time in the following format:
DD MMM YY HH.MM.SS |
| COUNTER | Returns a character string containing a decimal number. The returned number is 00001 for the first invocation and is incremented by one on each successive invocation. |
| DIMENSION(x,y) | Returns a FIXED value specifying the current extent of dimension y of x. The array x can't have less than y dimensions. y must have FIXED type, otherwise it will be converted, and it must be greater than or equal to 1. If omitted, it's value is 1, i.e. you can omit y only if x is one-dimensional. |
| HBOUND(x,y) | Returns a FIXED value specifying the current upper bound of dimension y of x. The array x can't have less than y dimensions. y must have FIXED type, otherwise it will be converted, and it must be greater than or equal to 1. If omitted, it's value is 1, i.e. you can omit y only if x is one-dimensional. |
| INDEX(x,y,z) | Returns a FIXED value indicating the starting position within the character expression x of a substring identical to character expression y. Optionally, z can be the position to start within x. If z is greater than the length of x then INDEX returns 0. |
| LBOUND(x,y) | Returns a FIXED value specifying the lower upper bound of dimension y of x. The array x can't have less than y dimensions. y must have FIXED type, otherwise it will be converted, and it must be greater than or equal to 1. If omitted, it's value is 1, i.e. you can omit y only if x is one-dimensional. |
| LENGTH(x) | Returns a FIXED value specifying the current length of a given character expression x. |
| PARMSET(x) | Used to determine whether a specified parameter has been set on the invocation of a procedure. |
| QUOTE(x) | Returns a CHARACTER string that represents x as a valid quoted string. |
| SYSADDR | Returns a character string of '32' or '64' indicating whether the source has been processed by a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the macro preprocessor. |
| SYSCHARSET | Returns a character string of 'ASCII' or 'EBCDIC' depending on the compile options in effect. |
| SYSTEM | Returns the -systemxxx option that the macro preprocessor was invoked with. The -systemmvs option will return MVS, -systemims - IMS and -systemcics - CICS. If no -systemxxx option was specified, it will return WIN on Windows, AIX on AIX, SOLARIS on Solaris, and LINUX on Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux. |
| SUBSTR(x,y[,z]) | Returns a substring of the character expression x, starting at position y with length z. |
| TRANSLATE(s,t,x) | Replaces occurrences in the character string s of a character in the specified string x with the corresponding translation character in translation string t and returns the resulting string. |
| VARIANT | Returns a character string specified on the command line. |
Example 1.
%ACTIVATE COMPILETIME;
%DECLARE TOC CHAR;
%TOC = ''''||COMPILETIME||'''';
PUT LIST ('COMPILED AT' ||TOC);
PUT SKIP;
The text generated by this example would be as follows:
PUT LIST('COMPILED AT '||' 14 NOV 93 15.53.12');
PUT SKIP;
Example 2.
%DECLARE XXX CHAR, COUNTER BUILTIN, I FIXED; %DO I = 1 TO 4; %XXX = 'DECLARE NAME_'|| COUNTER || 'FIXED BIN(31);'; XXX %END;
The text generated by this example would be as follows:
DECLARE NAME_00001 FIXED BIN(31); DECLARE NAME_00002 FIXED BIN(31) DECLARE NAME_00003 FIXED BIN(31) DECLARE NAME_00004 FIXED BIN(31)
Example 3 (SYSADDR).
fn: proc() options(main);
%if sysaddr = 64 %then
%do;
put skip list ('64 bit');
%end;
%else
%do;
put skip list ('32 bit');
%end;
end fn;