WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.

[Alexxxxxxx]

Dear all,

How can I overcome the 'WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.'?

when I using the following code to clean a company name dataset,

%MACRO CompnayNameM(no=,Company_name=);

Data Step3.Datastream_gb_Step8;
Set Step3.Datastream_gb_Step8;
&Company_name._Step8=&Company_name._Step6;
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," A B "," AB ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," A CALIFORNIA CORP "," CORP ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," A DELAWARE CORP "," CORP ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," AKTIEBOLAGET "," AB ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," AKTIEBOLAG "," AB ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," ACADEMY "," ACAD ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT "," AG ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," ACTIENGESELLSCHAFT "," AG ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," AKTIEN GESELLSCHAFT "," AG ");
&Company_name._Step8= tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8," AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT "," AG ");


...



&Company_name._Step8=tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8, " RES & DEV ", " R&D ");
&Company_name._Step8=tranwrd(&Company_name._Step8, " RECH & DEV ", " R&D ");
chflag&Company_name.6vs8=(&Company_name._Step8 ne &Company_name._Step6);
run;

data watch&no. (keep=&Company_name. &Company_name._Step6 &Company_name._Step8 GEOGRAPHIC_DESCR_ chflag&Company_name.6vs8);
set Step3.Datastream_gb_Step8;
if chflag&Company_name.6vs8=1;
run;

%MEND CompnayNameM;

%CompnayNameM(no=1,Company_name=NAME)
%CompnayNameM(no=2,Company_name=COMPANY_NAME)
%CompnayNameM(no=3,Company_name=COMPANY_NAME_1)
%CompnayNameM(no=4,Company_name=COMPANY_NAME___SHORT)
%CompnayNameM(no=5,Company_name=PREVIOUS_NAME)
run;

However, 

I get 

1924  data watch&no. (keep=&Company_name. &Company_name._Step6 &Company_name._Step8 GEOGRAPHIC_DESCR_
1924! chflag&Company_name.6vs8);
1925  set Step3.Datastream_gb_Step8;
1926  if chflag&Company_name.6vs8=1;
1927  run;
1928
1929  %MEND CompnayNameM;
1930
1931  %CompnayNameM(no=1,Company_name=NAME)
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.

NOTE: There were 11846 observations read from the data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8.
NOTE: The data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8 has 11846 observations and 63 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           36.04 seconds
      cpu time            11.14 seconds



NOTE: There were 11846 observations read from the data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8.
NOTE: The data set WORK.WATCH1 has 566 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           11.63 seconds
      cpu time            0.61 seconds


1932  %CompnayNameM(no=2,Company_name=COMPANY_NAME)
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference D not resolved.

NOTE: There were 11846 observations read from the data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8.
NOTE: The data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8 has 11846 observations and 65 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           36.76 seconds
      cpu time            12.10 seconds



NOTE: There were 11846 observations read from the data set STEP3.DATASTREAM_GB_STEP8.
NOTE: The data set WORK.WATCH2 has 1659 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           12.71 seconds
      cpu time            0.70 seconds

Do you know why? and how can I fix it?

thanks for your attention to this matter.

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

Change code like this: " R&D " to ' R&D ' to stop SAS thinking &D is a macro reference.