The problem I have with COND= is that it's back-asswards. First, it specifies conditions to NOT run the step. You have to keep in mind that with multiple conditions, any TRUE condition means don't run the step. Except for ONLY & EVEN, which specify conditions for which the step *will* run. Second, the natural way to code a test is to say "if variable [comparison] value", not the reverse that COND requires.
It's certainly possible to train yourself to grok that, but it's about as unintuitive as it can be. The IF / ELSE constructs are a great improvement in understandability. You can continue using the old way if you like, and I don't see any argument that the new way causes any problems. So what's the complaint? For the record, I use both COND and IF as I see fit, but if an OR or AND rears its head, I'm likely to recast the whole thing into REXX. sas ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN