Since you are going for a "best practice", I would use the approach suggested by . The following uses that approach, combined with your latest code: data to_drop;   informat _name_ $32.;   input _name_;   cards; _type_ name age height ; proc sql;   create table to_drop2 as     select distinct a._name_       from to_drop as a         inner join dictionary.columns as b          on upcase(a._name_) = upcase(b.name)            where b.libname='SASHELP' and                  b.memname = 'CLASS'   ; quit; data _null_;   set to_drop2 end=last;   if _n_=1 then call execute('data want; set sashelp.class (drop=');   call execute(' '||strip(_name_));   if last then call execute('); run;'); run; ... View more