If you already had extracted that code to a single include, you would have to change only one file, done in minutes (2 hours including unittest/documenting/checkin-checkout etc) Think like a programmer: avoid manual repetitive work at all costs, because that's what you have the computer for! Being lazy is a good trait in a programmer/developer. ... View more

Run this program an look at the results. It may help you see the difference in character variable order compared with numeric. It creates some character variables that look like numbers, sorts them and prints the result. data test;    input x $; datalines; 1 2 3 10 25 38 150 220 3487 ; run; proc sort data=test; by x;run; proc print data=test;run; ... View more