Hi Ajay, Cynthia's post covers all you need to know to understand what is going on as pairs of ampersands and the macro variables resolve, but to make it more explicit for your example, the resolutions after each scan are as follows: Example 1 Before first scan &&&&&&&&x After first scan &&&&x After second scan &&x After third scan &x After final scan y In this example, we started with 8 ampersands before the x, and so the x does not resolve with an ampersand until the final scan. Example 2 Before first scan &&&&&&&&&x After first scan &&&&y After second scan &&y After third scan &y After final scan z In this example, as we started with an odd number of ampersands, the final ampersand pairs with the x and resolves to y during the first scan. The y is then untouched until the final scan where it resolves to z. Nick ... View more