> From: Adam [mailto:yadong_cui@YAHOO.COM]
> How to read delimited txt files into SAS; the txt files used
> a combination of two rare characters as delimiters such as '[~'.
>
> infile txtfile dlm='[~';   will treat either [ or ~ as a delimiter,
> not the combination.
>
> The reason for this combination is that either of them may be
> shown in some fields, so if I pick up either one as a
> delimiter, the txt file may not be read into SAS correctly.

so which is the major or outside delimiter?
read the var,
then scan for the minor or inside delimiter:

FinalVar = scan(FirstVar,2,'<minor or inside delimiter>');

Ron Fehd  the macro maven  CDC Atlanta GA USA RJF2@cdc.gov

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