Names of columns must be unique, so if sas encounters a name a second time, it does not just add a number to that name, it starts with var1. To read a text file, i would write a data step. ... View more

If the source file was a text file of any sort, such as CSV or tab delimited then Proc Import wrote data step code in the log. Copy the code from the Log, clean up such as remove line numbers. Search an replace with the editor "var1" to what ever name you want. This is the best way if you are going to read multiple files with the same structure. Save the code and then when you have the next file change in the input file name and the output data set.   You could also write Proc Data sets code to rename the variables in place.   Proc Import has no options that will let you modify the names. Typically I see "Var1" when one of two things happens: 1) there is not column header to use for a variable name or 2) the header is longer than 32 characters long and matches another column heading for the first 32 characters. ... View more