Using SAS Macro to pipe a list of filenames from a Windows directory

Question

I am trying to amend the macro below to accept a macro parameter as the \'location\' argument for a dir command. However I cannot get it to resolve correctly due to the nes

Answer 1

We use this little macro

%macro getdir(dir=,redirect=, switch=);
    options noxwait xsync;
    %if %length(&switch)=0 %then %let switch=b;
    data _null_; 
      xcmd='dir "' || "&dir" || '"' || "/&switch " || ">" || "&redirect";
      put 'generated the following command: ' xcmd=; 
      rc=system(xcmd);
      put 'result code of above command: ' rc=;
    run;
%mend getdir;

Sample Call

%getdir(dir=c:\temp\,redirect=c:\temp\dir.txt) *run;

If you run in batch and don't have the option noxwait xsync the job will hang on the server waiting for an operator response.

Answer 2

here's a quick macro to pull windows-based directory listings into a sas data set.

%macro DirList(dir);

/* %if &SUBDIR eq %then %let subdir=/s; */        /*** &SUBDIR not defined ****/
filename dirpipe pipe "dir &DIR.\*.* /s /-c";

data dir_list(label="Directory Listing [&DIR.]" drop=re_: _line_ date time);
  format Path
         File   $250.
         ModDT  datetime19.
         Size   16.
         _line_ $32000. ;

  if _N_ = 1 then do;
    re_path=prxparse("/Directory of (.+)/");
    re_subd=prxparse("/(\d\d\/\d\d\/\d\d\d\d)\s+(\d\d:\d\d [A|P]M)\s+\s+(\S.*)/");
    re_file=prxparse("/(\d\d\/\d\d\/\d\d\d\d)\s+(\d\d:\d\d [A|P]M)\s+(\d+)\s+(\S.*)/");
    retain re_: path;
    end;

  infile dirpipe lrecl=32000; input; _line_ = _infile_;

  if lengthn(_line_)=0 then delete;
  else
  if prxmatch(re_path, _line_) then do;
    path=prxposn(re_path, 1, _line_);
    end;
  else
  if prxmatch(re_subd, _line_) then do;
    date=input(prxposn(re_subd, 1, _line_), mmddyy10.);
    time=input(prxposn(re_subd, 2, _line_), time6.);
    ModDT=dhms(date, 0, 0, time);
    File=prxposn(re_subd, 3, _line_);
    size = .D; /*mark subdirectory records*/
    if file not in ('.', '..') then output;
    end;
  else
  if prxmatch(re_file, _line_) then do;
    date=input(prxposn(re_file, 1, _line_), mmddyy10.);
    time=input(prxposn(re_file, 2, _line_), time6.);
    ModDT=dhms(date, 0, 0, time);
    size=input(prxposn(re_file, 3, _line_), 16.);
    file=prxposn(re_file, 4, _line_);
    output;
    end;
run;
filename dirpipe clear;
%mend;

and here's how they get called

%dirlist(c:);
%dirlist(c:\temp);

notice there is no trailing backslash when specifying the base directory. C: not C:\.