in a macro module, I normally test for existence of the file on a network server:

%macro a;

%if %sysfunc(fileexist(&wfname)) %then %do; <lots of data step and proc operations>

%mend;.

this works fine and I only included it above to illustrate it's use

now, when I want to %include (%inc) a module, it will not permit me to use the syntax from inside another macro

for example

%macro b; <lots of operations> %inc <mypath> %mend;

if the included module contains as it's 1st line %if %sysfunc(fileexist(&wfname)) %then %do;

how else might I test for file existence in included modules? curiously the &wfname resolves fine, as in data a; infile &wfname ;