https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51336#M14096 Sounds like you have a UNICODE file. Look at the ENCODING option on the INFILE or FILENAME statement. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:03:07 GMT data_null__ 2010-02-03T03:03:07Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51335#M14095 I have a .csv file that I'm trying to read in. The problem is that every other byte appears to be a NULL (char value = 00). The best solution I have is using the compress function to take the NULLs out. This isn't the first time my "data experts" have given me a file like this and I suspect that it is due to a decryption process that they use.<BR /> <BR /> My question is this, is there a easier or slicker way of ignoring the bad bytes or am I doomed to repeat this exercise over and over again? Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:01:13 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51335#M14095 CurlerBob 2010-02-02T22:01:13Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51336#M14096 Sounds like you have a UNICODE file. Look at the ENCODING option on the INFILE or FILENAME statement. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:03:07 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51336#M14096 data_null__ 2010-02-03T03:03:07Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51337#M14097 Thanks. That worked great! Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:44:35 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Importing-csv-File-with-Embedded-NULL/m-p/51337#M14097 CurlerBob 2010-02-03T14:44:35Z