Date:         Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:08:24 -0500
Reply-To:     "Fehd, Ronald J. (CDC/CCHIS/NCPHI)" <rjf2@CDC.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Fehd, Ronald J. (CDC/CCHIS/NCPHI)" <rjf2@CDC.GOV>
Subject:      Re: symbolgen and log size
In-Reply-To:  <31c16453-2d1f-4f54-9e5b-e5de35f00a4e@33g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

> From: yoonsup
> Subject: symbolgen and log size
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm writing a sas macro program with a do loop in it.
> For debugging, I use mprint, symbolgen and mlogic options.
> In each loop, I use proc printto to put out the log as a txt file.
> The problem is that the log text files gets really big mainly due to
> empty space or lines. I'm talking about
> 3-4 pages empty lines. I think I figured out why the log text file has
> such a large amount of empty space.
> It was because that one macro variable that I generate by symput
> option referering to a column with a length
> set at the maximum ($32767). I need it to be at the maximum but the
> actual macro variable can resolve to
> a few hundred characters. However, the symbolgen option seems to put
> all 32,767 spaces in the log.
> Try the example code below and see what happens in the log. The macro
> variable "sel" has no character
> in it but when you look at the log, there are lots of empty lines
> before "quit;".
>
> Is there any way to make SAS log show only the actual resolved
> character that are trimmed for all empty spaces
> to reduce the log file size?

options macrogen and symbolgen are for debugging

options mprint is for unit and integration testing.

which are you doing?

clearly, if you have macrogen or symbolgen turned on
then you are debugging.

But if you are using mprint on a level where you are writing files
you are in testing mode.

figure out what you are doing: simplicity (and smallness) follows.

Ron Fehd  the macro maven  CDC Atlanta GA USA RJF2 at cdc dot gov