Column Splitter Take 2 - Merge

An anonymous person provided an alternative take on my %columnSplitter macro and I have to admit this one is easier to understand, has less code and runs about twice as fast. Congrats to whomever shared this alternative approach.

Here is the complete code using the merge statement:

%macro columnSplitter2( 
    columns = 3
  , indsn   =
  , outdsn  =
  , varname =  
) ;
 
  %local dsid nobs increment ;

  %if not %sysfunc( exist( &indsn. ) ) %then %do ;
    %put %str(E)RROR: invalid input data set name: &indsn. ;
    %return ;
  %end ;

  %if %isblank( &indsn. ) %then %do ;
    %put %str(E)RROR: invalid output data set name: &outdsn. ;
    %return ;
  %end ;

  %if %isblank( &varname. ) %then %do ;
    %put %str(E)RROR: invalid variable name: &varname. ;
    %return ;
  %end ;

  %let dsid      = %sysfunc( open( &indsn. ) ) ;
  %let nobs      = %sysfunc( attrn( &dsid., nobs ) ) ;
  %let dsid      = %sysfunc( close( &dsid. ) ) ;
  %let increment = %sysfunc( ceil( &nobs. / &columns. ) ) ;

  data &outdsn. ;
    merge
    %do i = 1 %to &columns ;
      &indsn( 
        keep     = &varname 
        rename   = ( &varname = &varname&i ) 
        firstobs = %eval( ( &i. - 1 ) * &increment. + 1 ) 
        obs      = %eval( &i. * &increment. ) )
    %end ;
    ;
  run ;

%mend ;

%columnSplitter2(columns=3,indsn=states,outdsn=statessplit3,varname=statename)