https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74475#M16038 that %include is passed through by the macro language compiler. The code is not opened and interpreted by that compiler, so %if is not valid once the syntax is out of the scope of the macro language compiler. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:00:02 GMT Peter_C 2010-09-24T16:00:02Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74474#M16037 weird thing: in a macro I had included several scripts using %include. in these scripts I had codes like %if - %then %do - %end. I got error message like:<BR /> <BR /> ERROR: The %IF statement is not valid in open code.<BR /> <BR /> I dont understand how this happened. all these %if stuff are still within the macro, right? Help appreciated!!! Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:02:42 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74474#M16037 abdullala 2010-09-24T14:02:42Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74475#M16038 that %include is passed through by the macro language compiler. The code is not opened and interpreted by that compiler, so %if is not valid once the syntax is out of the scope of the macro language compiler. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:00:02 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74475#M16038 Peter_C 2010-09-24T16:00:02Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74476#M16039 Suggest the OP try some additional SAS OPTIONS settings (below) to diagnose further:<BR /> <BR /> OPTIONS SOURCE SOURCE2 MACROGEN SYMBOLGEN MPRINT /* MLOGIC */;<BR /> <BR /> <BR /> Scott Barry<BR /> SBBWorks, Inc. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:23:32 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/open-code-in-macro/m-p/74476#M16039 sbb 2010-09-24T17:23:32Z