If I understand your situation you might consider reading some of those Excel columns into a data set. If you already have the 1 indicator then you should be able to join the values of the text to get the indicator (or missing).   You may also be better off to transpose the data so you have a single diagnosis variable plus the other identfications. Then you don't need to work with an array and Your issue with The problem is that when I run it, some entries are populating more than one category. I've double checked the raw data to make sure entries are not in fact categorized multiple times. Please help!   You likely need to provide some actual example data as there is not enough information provided to tell why some of your code might behave that way.   Instructions here: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/How-to-create-a-data-step-version-of-your-data-AKA-generate/ta-p/258712 will show how to turn an existing SAS data set into data step code that can be pasted into a forum code box using the {i} icon or attached as text to show exactly what you have and that we can test code against.   Remove any variables that are not directly related to this issue. Make sure to include some that are getting the "wrong" result.   BTW it is not best practice to define multiple arrays for the exact same elements. You can confuse yourself and code.   ... View more