Jeff,

Use the concatenation operator (||) to build the string.

data _null_; file 'c:\temptest\sastest.txt'; input ssn $; newvar = "Insert into #temp values('"||trim(ssn)||"');"; put newvar; cards; 123456789 234567891 345678912 ; run;

Jack Clark Research Analyst phone: 410-455-6256 fax: 410-455-6850 jclark@hilltop.umbc.edu

University of Maryland, Baltimore County Sondheim Hall, 3rd Floor 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail may contain information that is legally privileged and that is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying of this e-mail, distribution, or action taken in reliance on the contents of this e-mail and/or documents attributed to this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately by phone and delete this entire e-mail. Thank you.-----Original Message----- From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jeff Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 9:23 AM To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: generate a string

144 data _null_;

145 set &client.MkSeg;

146 file "N:\PM1\MarketSegmentAug04\BCBSAL\mk.txt";

147 if ssn not eq '';

148 put "Insert into #temp values('" trim(ssn) "');";

-----

79

76

ERROR 79-322: Expecting a (.

ERROR 76-322: Syntax error, statement will be ignored.

149 run;

I want to generate a string like

Insert into #temp values('422804663' );

Insert into #temp values('416159268' );

Insert into #temp values('424060217' );

Insert into #temp values('448505012' );

How can I fix this problem? THX. Jeff