As promised at the Coder's Corner, SAS-L Live from Miami Beach, here is my code to center a title in a DATA _NULL_ step:

%macro center (str1, str2, lgth); /* Center a string on length. */ &str2 = repeat(' ', max((&lgth - length(left(&str1)))/2, 0)) || left(&str1); %mend center;

The gentleman at the rear who asked if I had coded a C function was perceptive. My memory was not accurate - as you can see it is a macro. Not only that, it is not even called like a function although it could be recoded that way as a macro. I keep it in an include file. You could also cut and paste (not recommended). Here is an example of how I use it for reporting in a datastep starting with the log showing the program:

110 %macro center (str1, str2, lgth); /* Center a string on length. */ 111 &str2 = repeat(' ', max((&lgth - length(left(&str1)))/2, 0)) || left(&str1); 112 %mend center; 113 114 OPTIONS NONUMBER LS=85; 115 TITLE; 116 DATA _NULL_; 117 FILE PRINT; 118 TTLIN1 = 'First Title Line'; 119 %CENTER(TTLIN1, TTLOUT1, 65) 120 TTLIN2 = 'Second Title Line'; 121 %CENTER(TTLIN2, TTLOUT2, 85) 122 PAGENUM = 1; * Initialize page number - would be incremented in a real app; 123 PUT /// 'MYPROG ' TTLOUT1 $char65. ' ' pagenum 5.; 124 PUT TTLOUT2 $char85.; 125 RUN;

NOTE: 5 lines were written to file PRINT. NOTE: The DATA statement used 0.08 seconds.

Which produced the following output:

MYPROG First Title Line 1 Second Title Line

Hope this makes life a little easier for the person who asked the question,

Rob

Rob Rohrbough, Consultant Rohrbough Systems Design, Inc. 9215 Dorcas Street A SAS Institute Quality Partner Omaha, NE 68124-2039 rob@rohrbough-systems.com (402) 343-1493