characteristic removed from infoprovider unable to delete variable

Dear Experts

Initially, i have a characteristic in an infoprovider used for reporting.

There is exit variable created on it.

Next, I removed the characteristic from the infoprovider.

When i edit the query, and try to remove the variable, it some how says its still being used.

I checked and could not find where else its used.

By accident, I removed the characteristic ,which is already invalid, from the query definition before i could delete the variable.

Now, i am unable to delete the variable belonging to this removed characteristic.

Is there another way to remove the variable as I wish to use the same exit variable name for another characteristic.

Please advise. Thanks.

regards

Pascal