Hi Mike,

No problem asking. This is always a good question. This is one of the most commonly asked questions, and there are several methods of doing this. Some use RETAIN, etc. for a datastep solution (which you have to *tell* the datastep to force the order), and here is an SQL solution (where the SELECT always puts the order as you ask it to):

proc sql; create table Table2 as select f, d, c, b, a, e from Table1; quit;

Hope this is helpful, Mark Terjeson Northwest Crime and Social Research, Inc. A SAS Alliance Partner 215 Legion Way SW Olympia, WA 98501 360.870.2581 - voice,cell 360.570.7533 - fax mailto:mark.terjeson@nwcsr.com www.nwcsr.com

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford, Industrialist

-----Original Message----- From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Mike Cohen Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 10:41 AM To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: Ordering output variables........????

Hello,

I have what I think should be an easy question to answer, yet I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere.

I have a dataset with the following output variables: a b c d e f

On the report generated by SAS, the order of the variables is such: a b c d e f

Yet, I want the report to read as such: f d c b a e

I cannot, for the life of me, figure this out!!

Please help!

Thanks so much in advance....

Mike