LINKEX is package for the purpose of data linkage. I don't know if I understand what you mean by ancient or normal. I'm pretty new to MACRO ... View more

Another problem I just realized that each time the macro will generate two files: _LKD and _TIE. If I insert another macro in it, I may just get the last combination instead of the all of them together.... ... View more

%_LINKEX (DATA1=aa, DATA2=bb, LMIN=2); %_BY (DOB,FN1,LN1); %_VAR (P_FN1,P_LN1); %_RUN; DATA link1; set _LKD       _TIE; run;   I basically will have link1-link16 and join them together and dedup. ... View more

Sorry! Not sure what happened that the format completely changed in the post. Try again here.  I have the following MACRO %_LINKEX (DATA1=aa, DATA2=bb, LMIN=2); %_BY (DOB,FN1,LN1); %_VAR (P_FN1,P_LN1); %_RUN;   The variable I have are: FN1, FN2, LN1, LN2 P_FN1, P_FN2, P_LN1, P_LN2 If I have to do it individually, I basically have to run 16 combinations. eg. combination 1: FN1, LN1 with P_FN1, P_LN1 combination2: FN1, LN2 with P_FN1, P_LN1.   I have another macro which was used in another program, like this: %MACRO COMPARE(FN, NFN, LN, NLN); (%DO C = 1 %TO &NFN; %DO A= 1 %TO &FLN; (&FN.&F=&LN.&L AND &FN.&F IS NOT NULL) %IF &F = &NFN AND &L = &NLN %THEN %DO; %END; %ELSE %DO;OR %END; %END; %END;) %MEND COMPARE;   I was wondering how I can combine the two so that I don't need to run 16 times of each combination. Thanks! ... View more

It worked and the only changes I need to make are (colored below): %LET BAD_PART=DUPLICATE|DO NOT USE|DONOT USE|FILE|RECORD|DO NOT ISSUE|DONT USE|DE LA | DE LA | DEL | JR$; NAMES[I] = prxchange("s/[^A-Z]/ /i",-1,NAMES[I]);   What is the i for? Adding $ is also critical here. So I guess I always need to specify if it is string? @Tom  ... View more

I changed the macro to : %LET BAD_PART=DUPLICATE,DO NOT USE,DONOT USE,FILE|RECORD,DO NOT ISSUE,DONT USE,DE LA, DE LA , DEL , JR,;   It didn't work. @Tom  ... View more

You mean "|" in this? %LET BAD_PART=DUPLICATE|DO NOT USE|DONOT USE|FILE|RECORD|DO NOT ISSUE|DONT USE|DE LA | DE LA | DEL | JR|;   If I remove |, how do I tell SAS these are separate parts with an "or" relationship? ... View more

Actually, there is a space in between each letter for some reason... @maguiremq @Tom  ... View more

%LET BAD_PART=DUPLICATE|DO NOT USE|DONOT USE|FILE|RECORD|DO NOT ISSUE|DONT USE|DE LA | DE LA | DEL | JR|; data test1; infile datalines delimiter = "," truncover; input c_ln :$50. c_fn :$50.; datalines; DUPLICATE-DO NOT USE, JOHN234 DO NOT USE (DUPLICATE), DUPLICATE RECORD DO NOT USE DUPLICATE FILE, [DONOT USE] DUPLICATE FILE DUPLICATE FILE, 'DONT USE' (DUPLICATE),"DUPLICATE" DE LA MARIA, MARIA JR. MARIA DEL ROSA, MARIA DELROSA MARIA DE LA ROSA, MARIA LAROSA ; run; DATA test1a; SET test1; ARRAY ORIGINAL [*] $ 40 C_LN C_FN; ARRAY NAMES[*] $ 40 LN FN ; DO I = 1 to 2; NAMES [I]= ORIGINAL [I]; END; DO I = 1 to 2; /* turn anything that is NOT a letter into space*/ NAMES[I] = prxchange("s/[^A-Z]/ /",-1,NAMES[I]); NAMES[I] = prxchange("s/&BAD_PART/ /",-1, left(trim(NAMES[I]))); NAMES[I] = STRIP(NAMES[I]); NAMES[I] = COMPBL(NAMES[I]);  END; DROP I; RUN;   The results for the last two lines are: M A R I A R O S A       M A R I A D E L R O S A M A R I A R O S A       M A R I A L A R O S A   But I still want a space after getting rid of "DE LA" or "DEL" if they are in the middle of the names.   Thanks.   ... View more

Thank you all that helped! I'm really touched by so much support here! ... View more