Thank you for the answer, but I do not have any of those problems. About the sentence x '"c:\program files (x86)\microsoft office\office14\excel.exe"'; that is only to open excel, but even that can de done manually. Executing only filename avg1 dde 'excel|US!r235c15:r235c15'; data _null_; file avg1; x = "x"; put x; run; SAS log shows: NOTE: The file AVG1 is: DDE Session, SESSION=excel|US!r235c15:r235c15,RECFM=V, LRECL=256 NOTE: 1 record was written to the file AVG1. The minimum record length was 1. The maximum record length was 1. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.32 seconds cpu time 0.03 seconds apparently record was written, but cell (235;15) is still empty. Further, I do not use a sleep function.
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