thanks all for your quick response...i would go with PIPE option though...Thank you... ... View more

thanks Reeza and SAS KIWI ... ... View more

THANKS A LOT TOM for your sizable time and explanation - this will help me for other logic creation too... Really appreciate your efforts.... Thanks! ... View more

Thanks Tom...!!! ... View more

thanks a lot Reeza for your quick response. I checked and it worked... ... View more

Anyways it's Reeza's solution... Worked fine... Thanks all! ... View more

Quite often, it's the joining process that takes time (whether in MERGE or in SQL).  Since you don't need any variables from the second table, other than to see if a match exists, it might be faster to create a format.  The limiting factor would be whether you have enough memory to load the format.  For example: data b2;    set b (keep=test_var rename=(test_var=start));    retain label 'Found a match'               fmtname '$match'; run; proc format cntlin=b2; run; data want;    set test_a;    if put(test_var, $match.) = 'Found a match'; run; If TEST_VAR is numeric rather than character, the name of the format would be MATCH instead of $MATCH.  The resources required would not be very different compared to creating a hash table from b and then using the CHECK method to see if a match can be found. ... View more

Thanks Reeza, TOM, PGStats... Reeza - it worked grt...!!! ... View more

thanks!!! ... View more

- HJD24 - in your code - filesize variable is uninitialized. Thanks! ... View more

you can try this i guess.... /*this way you will get missing & not missing value for all variables*/ proc format;        value $missfmt  ' '  ='missing' other=' not missing';        value missfmt    .  = 'missing' other='not missing'; run; proc format data= work.test; /*your test dataset goes here*/        format _char_ $missfmt. ;        table _char_ /missing nocum nopercent missprint;        format _numeric_ missfmt.;        table _numeric_/missing nocum nopercent missprint; run; /****gd lk!!!***/ ... View more

never mind- i found it - have to edit "objectspawner.bat" file Thanks all! ... View more

Thanks for your time Reeza!!! ... View more