I need to read a large file (~150 variables >600 LRECL >1 Million rows) containing different data types - packed/binary/float/character etc. (The input file is NOT a SAS dataset). Need to convert it to a CSV file with quotes around character variables and comma separated. We are using the QUOTE function to quote the character variables and inserting commas between the variables with a 'put +(-1) ','. This simple program is turning out to be a CPU hog. The program runs on the MVS mainframe and is a real bottleneck. The program only contains a single INPUT statement, a series of statement to QUOTE character variables, followed by a single PUT statement. Is there anyway I can speed up processing? Or, is SAS generally not good with external files? TIA.