- autoexec.sas – This is a file that is run every time you start SAS. When you run the %net tools installation program it either creates an autoexec.sas file or appends a few lines lines to your existing autoexec.sas file that tell SAS where your Personal Macro Folder is (and hence where you SAS macros will be stored) and modifies the search path for sasautos so SAS will automatically look in your Personal Macro Folder for the macros you download.
- Help File – A help file for a macro is an ordinary text file that contains information about how to use the macro. The help file has a .hlp extension and can be viewed with the %net_help macro or %local_help macro. For example, you can type %net_help(test , https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros/ ) to view the help file for test at the specified web location, or if you have used %net_get to download test, you could view the help file for it via %local_help( test ) . Here is an example of a help file for the %net_get macro.
- %net tools – These are a set of SAS macros are designed to ease the process of downloading macros from other web sites, including the %net_list macro for listing packages at a web site, the %net_describe macro for describing the contents of a package, the %net_help for viewing the help file for a macro, and the %net_get macro for downloading a macro from a remote web site to your local computer. These macros also include the %local_list macro for listing the macros you have already downloaded, and the %local_describe macro for describing a package you have already downloaded, and the %local_help macro for viewing the help file for a macro you have already downloaded.
- %net Tools Installation Program – This is the macro that you need to run in order to install the %net tools. You only need to run this macro once, and it will ask you where you want your Personal Macro Folder to be located (where you macros will be downloaded and stored) and then modify your autoexec.sas file so SAS will know where your Personal Macro Folder is located. You can install this set of macros by clicking on the %net tools installation program and then copying and pasting the entire contents into the SAS program editor and submitting it. When you submit this program in SAS display manager, you will be asked the folder you want to use as your Personal Macro Folder, the folder where you want your downloaded SAS macros to be stored. It will then proceed to install the %net tools to your computer into the folder you specified.
- SAS Macro – A SAS macro is a series of SAS program statements to make it easier to perform a particular task. The %net tools make it easier to download and share macros, for example to view the list of macros stored at a web site, view information about the macros, and to download the macro(s). For example, you could download the test macro from https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros/ by typing %net_get( test , https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros/ ).
- Package – A package is a collection of files stored on a web server. You can view the list of packages available on a web server with the %net_list macro, for example %net_list( https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros ) . You can view the contents of a package with the %net_describe macro, for example to describe the test macro you can type %net_describe( test , https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros ) and you can download the files listed in a package with the %net_get macro, for example %net_get( test , https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros ) .
- Personal Macro Folder – This is the folder where your macros are stored when you use the %net_get command. You choose the name for this folder when you run the %net tools installation program.
- sasautos – This is a series of folders where SAS searches for macros. When you go to run a macro, it searches this series of folders looking for the macro that you invoked.
- Supplemental file – A supplemental file is a file that can be optionally downloaded with a package, and would typically be a data file.
- url – A url is an address for a web site, for example https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros . You can supply the url to the %net macros, for example %net_list( https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/sas/macros ) gets a listing of the packages available at that location. Once you have used one of the %net commands from a particular url, you can omit the url from subsequent commands to go to the same location.