If you end up having to use arrays a lot, then this may be a telltail of the data structured less than excellently. Here is one way that does not involve any arrays at all.    /* test data */    data one;       id=1; result="N:f;1; 3; 52; a; b"; output;       id=2; result="Y"; output;       id=3; result="N:33"; output;       id=4; result="N:1"; output;       id=5; result="N:a;b;c"; output;    run;    /* the 81 tests */    data tests;       do n = 1 to 81;          if n <= 71 then test = put(n, 2.-l);          else test = substr("abcdefghij", n-71, 1);          output;       end;       keep test;    run;    /* make a long-shaped data */    data long;       set one;       result = compress(lowcase(result),"0123456789abcdefghij;","k");       passedAll = ifn(missing(result), 1, 0);       do point = 1 to 81;          set tests point=point;          failedThis = (indexw(trimn(result), trimn(test), ";")>0);          passed = (passedAll or not failedThis);          output;       end;       keep id test passed;    run;    /* usage example: count how many people passed each test */    proc freq data=long;       table test/list missing;       where passed;    run;    /* reshape to wide -- it takes just one proc */    proc transpose data=long out=wide(drop=_:) prefix=passed;      by id;      var passed;    run;    /* check */    proc print data=wide;      var passed1-passed5;    run;    /* on lst    Obs    passed1    passed2    passed3    passed4    passed5     1        0          1          0          1          1     2        1          1          1          1          1     3        1          1          1          1          1     4        0          1          1          1          1     5        1          1          1          1          1    */ ... View more

... > Is there any SAS COOKBOOK? ... Rick Aster's Professional SAS Programming Shortcuts comes closest. Browse this page for code samples and topics. ... View more

I find that, in macros, you need to be aware of if your date is in the numeric or in the literal format, which necessitates at least a pair of conversion macros.    %*-- two utilities --*;    %macro date2num(date, informat=anydtdte.);      %*-- strip quotations and postfix d from date literal if any. --*;      %*-- quotations are intentionally doubled to prevent unmatched error --*;      %let date=%sysfunc(prxchange(s/[''""]d?//i,-1,&date));      %sysfunc(inputn(&date,&informat))    %mend  date2num;    %macro num2date(num, format=date10., literal=1);      %local n;      %let n = %sysfunc(putn(&num,&format));      %if &literal %then "&n"d; %else &n;    %mend  num2date;    %*-- main work --*;    %macro today();      %num2date(%sysfunc(today()))    %mend  today;    %macro LDoM(date=%today());      %sysfunc(intnx(mon,%date2num(&date),0,e))    %mend  LDoM;    %macro IsLDoM(date=%today());      %sysevalf(&date = %LDoM(date=&date))    %mend IsLDoM;    %*-- check --*;    %macro test(date=);       %local not;       %let not = %qsysfunc(ifc(%IsLDoM(date=&date),,%str(not )));       &date is &not.the last day of the month.    %mend  test;    %put NOTE: %test(date="20may2011"d);    %put NOTE: %test(date="31may2011"d);    %*-- on log    NOTE: "20may2011"d is not the last day of the month.    NOTE: "31may2011"d is the last day of the month.    --*; ... View more

You can ask windows kernel via modulen. Packaging it neatly into a user-written function (or a macro) is left as an exercise for the interested reader(s). 🙂 /* cd to work */ %let pwd = %sysfunc(pathname(work)); %put pwd=&pwd; x cd &pwd; /* create a test file with a long name */ %let long = long file name.txt; options noxwait; x "copy nul ""&long"""; /* create sascbtbl */ filename sascbtbl catalog "work.winapi.fm.source"; data _null_;    file sascbtbl; input; put _infile_; cards4; routine GetShortPathNameA module=KERNEL32 minarg=3 maxarg=3 stackpop=called returns=long; arg 1 input char format=$cstr256.;  arg 2 output char format=$cstr256.;  arg 3 input num format=pib4.; ;;;; run; /* call the win32 api func via modulen */ data _null_;    length long short $256;    long = "&long" || byte(0);    short = byte(0);    rc = modulen("*e", "GetShortPathNameA", long, short, 0);    short = scan(short, 1, byte(0));    if rc=0 then       put "Uh-oh!";    else       put (long short) (= :quote.); run; filename sascbtbl clear; /* on log long="long file name.txt " short="LONGFI~1.TXT" */ ... View more

/* test data */ data one;    infile cards truncover;    input from :$20.; cards;    0    0.006789123    1    53    100    12345    a234    234x    dunkin    -0.1 ; run; /* special formatting */ proc fcmp outlib=work.star.bucks;    function tall(n) $;       return (if 0<=n & n<1          then left(putn(round(n, .0001), "8.4"))          else " ");    endsub;    function grande(n) $;       return (if 1<=n & n<100          then left(putn(n, "8."))          else " ");    endsub;    function venti(n) $;       return (if 100<=n & n<=constant('big')          then left(putn(round(n,100), "best8."))          else " ");    endsub;    function coffee(s $) $;       length n 8 t $20 g $20 v $20;       if verify(s, "0123456789. ") then return(left(s));       n = inputn(s, "best20.");       t = tall(n);       g = grande(n);       v = venti(n);       return (coalescec(t,g,v));    endsub; quit; %let cmplib = %sysfunc(getoption(cmplib)); options cmplib = (work.star &cmplib);    data two;       set one;       length to $20;       to = coffee(from);    run; options cmplib = (&cmplib); /* check */ proc print data=two; run; /* on lst       Obs  from           to       1    0              0.0000       2    0.006789123    0.0068       3    1              1       4    53             53       5    100            100       6    12345          12300       7    a234           a234       8    234x           234x       9    dunkin         dunkin      10    -0.1           -0.1 */ ... View more

Use CATX function. data _null_;    a = ""; b = "b";    ab = catx(",",a,b);    put (_all_) (=); run; /* on log    a=  b=b ab=b */ ... View more

... > It is very slow because it uses Cartesian product. Is > there any better way to speed up the computation? ... See Howard Schreier's excellent NESUG 16 (2003) paper. ... View more

I am not sure if it is a good idea to rewrite the whole dataset just to rename the variables... I would rather recommend using proc datasets. Something like this sas-l posting. ... View more

Here is one way. hth. /* test data */ data one;    old = "asdgdfgdg"; run; /* create a new var replacing dg with YY in old */ data two;    set one;    length new $9;    new = prxchange("s|dg|YY|", -1, old); run; /* check */ proc print data=two; run; /* on lst    Obs   old          new    1     asdgdfgdg    asYYdfgYY */ ... View more

%macro vars(data=, dlm=%str( ));    %local lib mem ds where keep first name;    %*-- data should exists --*;    %let data = %upcase(&data);    %if not %sysfunc(exist(&data)) %then %do;       %put ERROR:(vars) data=&data does not exists;       %return;    %end;    %*-- extract libname and memname and prepare ds options --*;    %let lib = %scan(&data,1,.);    %let mem = %scan(&data,2,.);    %if &mem = %then %do;       %let mem = &lib;       %let lib = WORK;    %end;    %let where = (libname="&lib" and memname="&mem");    %let keep = libname memname name;    %*-- extract var names from sashelp.vcolumn view --*;    %let ds = %sysfunc(open(sashelp.vcolumn(keep=&keep where=&where),is));    %if &ds=0 %then %do;       %put ERROR:(vars) vcolumn of &data cannot be opened;       %return;    %end;    %syscall set(ds);    %let first = 1;    %do %while(%sysfunc(fetch(&ds))=0);       %if &first %then %let first = 0;       %else %*;&dlm;       %*;%trim(&name)    %end;    %let ds = %sysfunc(close(&ds)); %mend vars; %*-- check --*; %put ***%vars(data=sashelp.class)***; %put ***%vars(data=sashelp.class, dlm=%str(, ))***; %*-- on log **Name Sex Age Height Weight** **Name, Sex, Age, Height, Weight** --*; ... View more

Not sure if the so-called global macro variable array is necessary. You can filter it simply with the where statement like below: proc sql;    /* a la TEST.DATABASE */    create table names as    select name    from sashelp.class    where name eqt 'A';    /* a la  TEST.FILTERED */    select *    from  sashelp.class    where name in (select name from names); quit; /* on lst    Name      Sex       Age    Height    Weight    Alfred    M          14        69     112.5    Alice     F          13      56.5        84 */ ... View more

%*-- comma separated quoted values --*; %macro csqv(key1,key2,key3,key4,key5,key6,key7,key8,key9);    %local i k;    %do i = 1 %to 9;       %let k = &&key&i;       %if &k= %then %goto cont;       %if &i>1 %then %*;,;       %*;%sysfunc(quote(&k))       %cont:    %end; %mend csqv; %put ***%csqv(abc, def, hij)***; %*-- on log ***"abc","def","hij"*** --*; ... View more

@Tim: You did not confuse me. The answer is: no. ... View more

... I'm merging 2 datasets. ...<br /> Is there a simpler way to move a column in a data set?<br /> You can do OUTER UNION with CORRESPONDING in PROC SQL and not worry about manually re-ordering variables. /* test data */ data one;    a=11; b=12; c=13; output; run; data two;    d=14; a=11; b=12; c=13; output;    d=24; c=23; b=22; a=21; output; run; proc sql;    select * from one    outer union corr    select * from two; quit; /* on lst    a         b         c         d    11        12        13         .    11        12        13        14    21        22        23        24 */ ... View more