@PaigeMiller oh I did use the advice of you, @Kurt_Bremser, and @Astounding gave me. I removed the macro and wrote the code for two cases without the macro. This is how I realized what I was missing. ... View more

I figured it out. Below it the code that works.    %let testA=("A1" "A2" "A3"); %let testB=("B1" "B2" "B3"); data NEED; set HAVE; %macro var_list; %let var_list = TESTA TESTB; %local i var; %do i=1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&var_list.)); %let var = %scan(&var_list., &i.); array cond_&var. {20} VAR_1-VAR_20; do i=1 to dim (cond_&var.); do j=1 to countw('&&&var..', ','); if (cond_&var.{i} in &&&var..) then do; &var.=1; end; end; end; %end; %mend; %var_list; run; The code works even if you start the %macro inside the data step. So I'm not sure about your point @PaigeMiller. Could you please provide an example when it matters when you start and end the macro and maybe also the code. I'm still confused where you would put  %macro var_list; %end; %mend; %var_list;   ... View more

@PaigeMiller why do you have to start and end the macro outside of data step?You mean this:   %macro var_list; data need; set have; run; %mend &var_list; ... View more

@PaigeMiller  @Astounding I can't copy code of the environment. So typed up the code and had typos here is the correct code:   %let testA=("A1" "A2" "A3"); %let testB=("B1" "B2" "B3"); data NEED; set HAVE; %macro var_list; %let var_list = TESTA TESTB; %local i var; %do i=1 %to %sysfunc(countw(&var_list.)); %let var = %scan(&var_list., &i.); array cond {20} VAR_1-VAR_20; do i=1 to dim (cond); do j=1 to countw('&&&var..', ','); if (cond {i} in &&&var..) then do; &var.=1; end; end; end; %end; %mend; %var_list; run; I get the following error: ERROR 124-185: The variable cond has already been defined ... View more

@quickbluefish how would you adjust your code to either execute only first block or both blocks. Right now it does either first or second block if I understand the code correctly. ... View more

I don't. It was just an example with some easy code. I usually have only one dummy either female or male. ... View more

I am using it to load in only a subset of a huge data set. So in the data step I restrict using where=(variable in (@readin.)) ... View more

@PaigeMiller I don't understand how the code you are proposing gives just the number of unique observations as a new variable. I get an error that variable name cannot be found. ... View more

@PaigeMiller do you know why proc sql doesn't work with the big data set? ... View more