Instead of using vlabel() function, you can use the output dataset from proc contents. JingJu

Or get information from sashelp.vcolumn:
proc sql noprint;
   select label into :label1 from sashelp.vcolumn where libname='WORK' & memname='AAA' & upcase(name)='X';
   select label into :label2 from sashelp.vcolumn where libname='WORK' & memname='AAA' & upcase(name)='Y';
quit;

Please try the following code:

%let dsid=%sysfunc(open(aaa,i));
%let label1 = %sysfunc(varlabel(&dsid.,1));
%let label2 = %sysfunc(varlabel(&dsid.,2));

%put +++&label1++;
%put +++&label2++;

thanks. Good point. 京剧