Good afternoon all, I have taken a lot of the advice offered here and here is the final result (of this stage). Macro code follows (apologies for formatting) %macro Step0(lib,debug=1); /* Get MEMNAMES into macro variables  */ proc sql noprint;   select memname into :dsname1 - :dsname99999       from dictionary.tables       where libname =%upcase("&lib")   ; quit; %local tablecount ; %let tablecount= &sqlobs ; %do i=1 %to &tablecount;       proc sql feedback;             select upcase(name) into :cname1 - :cname999999             from &lib..%upcase(&&dsname&i)             ;             quit;       %local Colcount ;       %let Colcount= &sqlobs ;       %do k=1 %to &colcount;             proc sql feedback;             select count(name) into :countresult1             from &lib..%upcase(&&dsname&i)             where             %upcase(name) = %upcase("&&cname&k")             ;             quit;                   proc sql;             Update Ruser.Test /*make this a parameter? */             Set Counts = &countresult1             where             %upcase(name) = "&&cname&k"             ;             quit;       %end;       %*If in debug mode, dump local macro vars to log;        %if &debug=1 %then %do;               %printMacVars(scope = Step0)       %end;       %end; %Mend Step0; %Step0(RUSER, debug = 1); Lessons learned: 1) there a lot of useful bits in SAS I am not aware of (example:&sqlobs) I had the right ideas through this little project, but...not quite the right approach. 2) scope matters - it helps to make sure you are using the correct loop variable at all times (corollary: don't get to clever, you'll outwit yourself) 3)if it looks to complicated, you are likely doing it wrong. I thank everyone for their assistance and explanations. I have a lot to chew on with all of the replies in this topic, and a lot to learn. Thanks again! ... View more