Thank for all of your posts. I figured this out by using a macro to cycle through the vars I'm working with. In the macro I generate a sas that has the label statement properly formatted. I created it in a seperate file because of the number of variables I have in some of my tables. I'm dealing with over 5000 variables. So i have 10 or so files that have label statements. Within my main program I use a macro to create the dataset. Within that macro I have a data step that has the %include as part of it. So all my labels get updated. I think I took the long route but I have to have pretty log files and this way does that. Thanks again for all of your help ... View more

sss, Thank you for your reply as well. That won't work because there can be other "V" in the string. I need the number "V" number pattern. Thank you for the suggestion Jerry ... View more

Art, Thank you so much that was it. I was looking for a number then the letter "V" then another number. Thank you Jerry ... View more

SPR, Thank you for your reply. Jerry ... View more

art, That was it. Thank you so much ... View more

Art, Thank you for your response. When I said "typeguessrow set to 0" in my post I assumed that Reeza knew I was doing it in the registry. I had already made this change in the past. It didn't fix the issue. thanks ... View more

Reeza, Thank you for your help. I already have my typeguessrow set to 0 and it still doesn't work. It is supposed to scan over 16000 rows and decide on the type. The majory have a format of "General" and the date cells have a date format. Still doesn't work. If a column is mostly blank I would assume they would make it the type of the data that is in the column. Thanks again for all your help and suggestions. ... View more

Reeza, I'm sorry I misunderstood the question. Here is some example data I don't have a date for date1 till row 52 of my spreadsheet. date2 starts on row 7. date1 1/1/1940 date2 1/9/2006 1/27/2007 1/11/2009 1/17/2010 1/21/2001 1/7/2001 1/23/2010 1/18/2000 1/1/2005 ... View more

SAS83 and Reeza, Thank you both for your replies. I can not post any of the data i'm working with. It's sensitive data. I can get around it like this data temp2; format date1_dt date9.; set temp ; date1_dt = input(date,anydtdte.); run ; I'm trying to figure out how to make the import make the table a number like date2 so I don't have to do this step. ... View more

SPR & data _null_, Thank you both for all the help. I was able to use what you both provided to take care of this issue. If he has any problems with the way I do it I will have him show me a better way. LOL Thank you again Jerry ... View more