using macro variable to read folder content in SAS 9.4 [duplicate] - file-io

Question

This question already has answers here:
Why won't my macro variable resolve?
(2 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
I'm trying to get the list of files in a directory with a SAS macro that uses a macro variable to specify dynamically the folder name. The code I run is the following:
%macro veicolo(codice_veicolo);
filename pipedir pipe ' dir "some_path\&codice_veicolo" /S' lrecl=5000;
data &codice_veicolo;
infile pipedir truncover;
input line $char1000.;
length directory $1000;
retain directory;
if line =' ' or
index(upcase(line),'<DIR>') or
left(upcase(line))=:'VOLUME' then
delete;
if left(upcase(line))=:'DIRECTORY OF' then
directory=left(substr(line,index(upcase(line),'DIRECTORY OF')+12));
if left(upcase(line))=:'DIRECTORY OF' then
delete;
if input(substr(line,1,10),?? mmddyy10.) = . then
substr(line,1,10)='12/31/2999';
date=input(substr(line,1,10),?? mmddyy10.);
format date mmddyy10.;
run;
proc sort data=&codice_veicolo;
by directory descending date;
run;
data folder_&codice_veicolo(drop=i line);
set &codice_veicolo;
by directory;
length filename $75;
retain number_of_files_in_directory directory_size;
if first.directory then
do;
number_of_files_in_directory=input(scan(line,2,' '),32.);
call symput(nfiles,number_of_files_in_directory);
directory_size=input(scan(line,4,' '),comma32.);
end;
file_size=input(scan(line,3,' '),comma32.);
filename=' ';
do i=4 to 100;
filename=trim(left(filename))||' '||scan(line,i,' ');
if scan(line,i,' ')=' ' then
leave;
end;
if index(upcase(line),'FILE(S)') then
delete;
if date ge '30DEC2999'd then
delete;
run;
%mend;
When I then execute the macro with the argument codice_veicolo being the name of the folder I want to search in, I get the following error:
Output Err std:
The system cannot find the path specified.
NOTE: 20 records were read from the infile PIPEDIR.
The minimum record length was 0.
The maximum record length was 90.
NOTE: The data set WORK.JL6AME1A6FK000442 has 2 observations and 3 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.05 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds
I supposed that for some reason it could not resolve the macro variable, but if I run:
%let pgmpath = %sysfunc(pathname(pipedir));
%put &pgmpath;
I get the proper path and the proper directory, therefore I assume the problem is in the infile statement. The code runs fine without using macro variables.
I am using SAS 9.4 on Windows 8. Any ideas??
Thank you in advance :)
Luca

Answer 1

Macro variable references are not expanded inside of single quotes.
Try this instead.
filename pipedir pipe %sysfunc(quote(dir /s "some_path\&codice_veicolo")) lrecl=5000;