通过R传递解析的SAS宏变量

Question

I'm generating a PDF that goes through quite a journey. First, a SAS macro creates a .txt file which is read into R, which is then output into a final PDF. I would like to run my R program through SAS, but I need to pass a filepath referenced in SAS to R. I've looked into using the 'rawr' package, but this isn't passing resolved SAS macro variables through R. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'd explore any avenue. Thanks!

Answer 1

As Quentin says, you can pass information from SAS to R by using the SAS/IML interface. On the SUBMIT line you can put any SAS/IML variable and that value of that variable will be substituted (as text) into the SAS program before SAS sends the program to R. The SAS/IML documentation contains examples.

If you want to send a macro value into R, first store it into a SAS/IML variable, then pass the value of the SAS/IML variable to R, as follows:

%let path = C:/Temp/Path1;
proc iml;
path1 = "&path";   /* copy to character string */
submit path1 / R; 
    theSASpath <- "&path1"
    theSASpath
endsubmit;

If the value of the macro variable changes while the program is running, just rerun the "path = " and SUBMIT statements to update the R copy of the path.