SAS 9.4M5 EG 7.14 x64 Data Step used for testing and debugging: data _null_; length szName $ 12; szCourse = 'PHIL '; szNmbr1 = '112 '; szNmbr2 = '112LAB'; intLen = lengthn(cats(szCourse, szNmbr1)); intInsert = 11 - intLen; szName = cat(trim(szCourse), repeat(' ', intInsert), trim(szNmbr1)); intNameLen = lengthn(szName); intNameLen = length(szName); intLen = lengthn(cats(szCourse, szNmbr2)); intInsert = 11 - intLen; szName = cat(trim(szCourse), repeat(' ', intInsert), trim(szNmbr2)); intNameLen = lengthn(szName); intNameLen = length(szName); run;   The data step works as expected; it concatenates the course and number, separated by a derived number of spaces to produce a left-aligned course name, x spaces, right-aligned course number that is always 12 total character long. This comports with the SAS documentation for the repeat() function as an n+1 result.   When I move the core code into a proc FCMP function, repeat() behaves differently for some reason - it produces an n+2 result, requiring me to adjust my math.   PROC FCMP OUTLIB=&IE_Functions; FUNCTION Build_Course_ID(szSubj $, szNumber $) $ 12; length szName $ 12;   intInsert = 10 - lengthn(cats(szSubj, szNumber)); szName = cat(trim(szSubj), repeat(' ', intInsert), trim(szNumber)); return(szName); ENDSUB; RUN; ... View more

[edited to clarify the output differences]   SAS Server v9.4 EG v7.15 HF8 x64 Win10 Enterprise v1903 x64   I'm using proc sql to (eventually) build a TSV that's properly-formatted for submission to the National Student ClearingHouse (NSC).   When it writes the query results to SAS output, all the fields I specify are there: Term | Acad Plan | Acad Sub Plan | Degree | NSC data field ID | NSC SSAN | First Name | MI | Last Name | Suffix | Bday | NSC Search Date | NSC blank field | NSC School code | NSC Branch Code | NSC Req Rtn Fld   But when I write the results to work.temp so I can proc export it to tsv, I get the following results Term | Acad Plan | Acad Sub Plan | Degree | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | Bday | NSC Search Date | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | <MISSING> | NSC Req Rtn Fld fields.   I thought it might have been because of my use of empty field assignments , but even if I assign them static text, those fields are still missing.   Thx, Jim   ... View more