You are correct this is the code I am using  DATA _NULL_; IF 0 THEN SET &SCANFILE NOBS=X; CALL SYMPUT('RECCOUNT',X); STOP; RUN; %DO I=1 %TO &RECCOUNT; DATA _NULL_; SET &SCANFILE (FIRSTOBS=&I); CALL SYMPUT('VAR1',&FIELD1); CALL SYMPUT('VAR2',&FIELD2); CALL SYMPUT('VAR3',&FIELD3); CALL SYMPUT('VAR4',&FIELD4); CALL SYMPUT('VAR5',&FIELD5); CALL SYMPUT('VAR6',&FIELD6); CALL SYMPUT('VAR7',&FIELD7); CALL SYMPUT('VAR8',&FIELD8); STOP; RUN;   I went back and added the *'s and it looks like you are right the macro is putting in some trailing blanks. I'll switch to symputx and see what happens.    VAR1=*T * VAR2=*S * VAR3=*2: Rolling * VAR4=*T * VAR5=*S * VAR6=* 2* VAR7=*S * VAR8=* 1.5* Skipped interation 2 ... View more

Thank you for the help sorry about the 45 40 it was a typo. The RAND('TABLE') option isn't quite what I am looking for I want to reference the probs table a large number of times (in the real data 160,000 times). Both data sets are made up examples.    Let me explain my variables a little better. CVtype is what the observation currently is. So in my final table observation one is currently T. Cv1, in the prob table, is what the next observation could be with a probability of prob1. Cv2, in the prob table, is also what the next observation could be with a probability of prob2. The probs were all calculated earlier by me.    If we look at the final table the observation is currently T, with a segment of 1, and a terrain of roll. I want to then reference my probs table. In my probs table where cvtype is T, segment is 1, and terrain is roll I want to then reference prob1 and prob2 and pick either cv1 or cv2 and add it as my next observation. If T (cv1) is chosen then segment increases to 2, if C (cv2) is chosen segment goes to 1.    If T was chosen as observation 2. I would then look at my probs table were cvtype is T, segment is 2, and terrain is roll and then pick either cv1 or cv2 as observation 3. After three iterations the final data might look like example 1. I want final data to eventually look look something like example 2.   Hopefully this is a little more clear. The probs table is only a reference and I want to, one at a time, add new cvtypes to the final table.   Example 1     0.654654 roll T 1 0.12567 roll T 2 0.967946 roll C 1 0.36758 roll     0.656765 roll     0.763147 roll     0.65445 level     0.516874 level     0.045648 level     0.989957 level     0.254658 level       Example 2     0.654654 roll T 1 0.12567 roll T 2 0.967946 roll C 1 0.36758 roll C 2 0.656765 roll C 3 0.763147 roll C 4 0.65445 level T 1 0.516874 level T 2 0.045648 level T 3 0.989957 level T 4 0.254658 level T 5   ... View more

Thanks! This got me to a solution. ... View more

Hopefully this makes more sense. The ID variable has to be sequential for the TYPE to be in the same group. So the ID 5 and 6 need to be grouped together but are not in the same group as 10 and 11. I don't really need the GROUP variable but hopefully it makes things more clear.    ID  TYPE group FIRST 1 r     2 r     3 r     4 t     5 CC 1 1 6 CC 1 0 10 CC 2 1 11 CC 2 0 12 r     19 r     21 RR 3 1 21 RR 3 0 30 r     32 t     39 t     41 CC error Need to indicate this is an error 50 t     56 r       ... View more

Thanks a lot, that almost has the desired affect. There are a few things that make the data a little tricky I noticed after scanning through the results on my main dataset. I need to differentiate between types that don't have a sequential ID and indicate an error for types that aren't grouped with a like type.    data temp; input ID type $; datalines; 1 r 2 r 3 r 4 t 5 CC 6 CC 10 CC 11 CC 12 r 19 r 20 RR 21 RR 30 r 32 t 39 t 41 CC 50 t 56 r ; run;     ID  TYPE FIRST 1 r   2 r   3 r   4 t   5 CC 1 6 CC 0 10 CC 1 11 CC 0 12 r   19 r   20 RR 1 21 RR 0 30 r   32 t   39 t   41 CC Need to indicate this is an error 50 t   56 r     ... View more

Thank you I'll give that a try tomorrow morning. I always have such a hard time wrapping my head around transposing data. ... View more