sql - Variable number of parameters in macro in SAS? -

i have macro passing in 6 table names , 6 columns. however, number of columns , tables not constant.

is there way have variable number of parameters? familiar concept in python **kwargs.

also, there way parameterize proc sql statement take many col , table inputs provided? or try catch of sort in sas check if variables exist before running sql statement?

here macro i'm trying parameterize.

%macro generate_tp_tbl(new_tbl_name, trans_col, tbl_1, tbl_2, tbl_3, tbl_4,                      tbl_5, tbl_6, col_1, col_2, col_3, col_4, col_5, col_6);  proc sql;  create table &new_tbl_name   select a1._name_, a1.&trans_col &col_1, a2.&trans_col &col_2,         a3.&trans_col &col_3, a4.&trans_col &col_4, a5.&trans_col &col_5,         a6.&trans_col &col_6  &tbl_1 a1, &tbl_2 a2, &tbl_3 a3, &tbl_4 a4, &tbl_5 a5,       &tbl_6 a6   a1._name_ = a2._name_ = a3._name_ = a4._name_ = a5._name_ = a6._name_;  run;  %mend generate_tp_table; 

pass them in single parameter , have macro parse them out later.

%macro (parameters = , table_list = tb1 tb2 tb3 ... tb6, col_list=col1 col2 ... col6, other_parms= ... ); 

i recommend building rest of code using loop number of parameters. documentation here has bad example of how extract each element of list:

http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/mcrolref/67912/html/default/viewer.htm#p1n2i0ewaj1zian1ria5579z1zjh.htm

the sql ugly...i wonder if data step easier since you're merging on single variable? becomes rename each table in example above in many respects.