It depends. Are you running in Windows, some flavor of unix, or with a real operating system? You should be able to have several hundred files open at once, at least. Using the FILEVAR option of the FILE statement, you can open and close output files as you need them. I believe (without checking) you can also control input files with a FILEVAR option on an INFILE statement. Tim Berryhill - Contract Programmer and General Wizard TWB2@PGE.COM or http://www.aartwolf.com/twb.html Frequently at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Francisco The correlation coefficient between their views and my postings is slightly less than 0 > ---------- > From: Xixi W Yin[SMTP:Xixi.W.Yin@AEXP.COM] > Reply To: Xixi W Yin > Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 1998 11:03 AM > To: SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU > Subject: # of files open in one SAS program/session > > Hello, > I was wondering how many files I can open in one SAS program, > which > will be run in one SAS session, and how do I close them if I need to? > (This is > just Base SAS). Thanks. > > Xixi >