Hari:

I think you should put % before the macro translate, or the statement should be:

%let FinalFileEndingName = %translate(&word,"_",".");

J S Huang 1-515-557-3987 fax 1-515-557-2422

>>> Hari <excel_hari@YAHOO.COM> 1/24/2006 12:13:12 PM >>> Hi,

I want to use Translate function to convert some of the "illegal characters" to good one.

I have a macro variable &word which might have a value "US.2M" (name of a market). I want to assign this value to a particular data file (which has data only for US.2M market).

Since periods in a name cause problem, so I would like to create a new macro variable called FileEndingName in which I have taken care of problematic characters and then use this new macro variable as part of my new data set name.

I tried something like

%let FinalFileEndingName = translate(&word,"_",".");

But when I PUT the variable FinalFileEndingName to Log using %put &FinalFileEndingName;

I get -- translate(US.2M,"-",".") --

In the above case it is not treating TRANSLATE as a function but rather as a literal text?

Please suggest ways to overcome my problem.

Regards, Hai India