topic Re: Delete everything after the 2nd string character in New SAS User

Delete everything after the 2nd string character

SAS_New_User1 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 22:29:51 GMT

I have a string

:20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-

I want to delete everything after the 2nd :START: and also delete :START: i.e. the desired output is as below, what should I do? I used index function and substr but it is truncating all the characters after the first :START:. Please help.

:20:catclimbedthetree:START:dogranaftercat

Thank you

Re: Delete everything after the 2nd string character

Reeza — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 22:40:59 GMT

You only have one START in your example not two.
Do you mean STOP?
Your description of the problem and example do not align.

@SAS_New_User1 wrote:

I have a string

:20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-

I want to delete everything after the 2nd :START: and also delete :START: i.e. the desired output is as below, what should I do? I used index function and substr but it is truncating all the characters after the first :START:. Please help.

:20:catclimbedthetree:START:dogranaftercat

Thank you

Re: Delete everything after the 2nd string character

SAS_New_User1 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 22:44:28 GMT

yes, I meant :STOP:

sorry about that

Re: Delete everything after the 2nd string character

Reeza — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 22:50:05 GMT

1. Use FINDW() to find the first STOP.
2. Use FINDW() again to find the second STOP - use the starting position from the first answer as a parameter to the second call to find the start of the second STOP
3. Use SUBSTR() to substring the string to the desired length - from 1 to the answer from step 2.

Documentation for FINDW.
https://documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.5&docsetId=lefunctionsref&docsetTarget=p16rdsa30vmm43n1ej4936nwa01t.htm&locale=en

If you're having issues post your code something as follows:

data have;
string = ":20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-";
firstSTOP = findw( .... ); * you need to fill in the appropriate parameters;
secondStop = findw(string, ...., firstStop); * you need to fill in the appropriate parameters;
want = substr(1, secondSTop);
run;

Re: Delete everything after the 2nd string character

ballardw — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 23:56:47 GMT

The pattern searches and selections with Substr for the specified positions are very similar to some of your prior questions.

What have you tried so far?