Question

is there a short way to make ALL macro variables created inside a macro global in scope?

ie:

%macro x;    %global _all_;  * ??? ;    %let x=1;    %let y=1;    %let z=1;   %mend; 

Answer 1

The only way I can think of to do this without having to declare each macro as global ahead of time and then do a %let statement is to use a macro in place of the %let statement.

In the code below, I create a macro called %mylet which has as its sole purpose the task of creating a global variable with the name and value I pass as arguments. I then use this macro in place of %let everywhere I want global variables defined.

eg.

%global myvar; %let myvar=2; 

would become…

%mylet(myvar,2);

/* Define a macro to declare variables as global */ %macro mylet(var,value);   %global &var;   %let &var.= &value ; %mend;  /* Test macro */ %macro test;  %mylet(myvar,2);  %mylet(myvar2,12);  %mylet(myvar3,'string');  /* see that they are global inside the macro */ title 'Macro scope inside test macro'; proc sql;     select *        from dictionary.macros        where name in('MYVAR','MYVAR2','MYVAR3'); quit;  %mend; %test;  /* Check to see if they are still global outside the macro */ title 'Macro scope outside test macro'; proc sql;     select *        from dictionary.macros        where name in('MYVAR','MYVAR2','MYVAR3'); quit;