@Mogreenly I wrote this last week and would appreciate any feedback if you have some time.  It's a short tutorial on making a macro, based on the concept of working code though.      https://github.com/statgeek/SAS-Tutorials/blob/master/Turning%20a%20program%20into%20a%20macro.md   If it doesn't make sense at all that's worth knowing as well! ... View more

@Mogreenly wrote: Thanks for your help.   I tried pulling that section of code out into a separate data step and it seems to be working now. It still does not work when imbedded within another data step (as I was doing before). I suppose there is an underlying nuance of SAS that I do not quite grasp. This means that in your other code you do something that clears either id or your newly created character variable. ... View more