topic Re: Remove Character in String in New SAS User

Remove Character in String

Jesusismygrace — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:13:47 GMT

Hi,

I read the previous solutions on this board on removing a character from a string, but I still do not understand it.

I have a field called Code and in this field, there are some "." that I would like to remove (J.045).

The below is what I have so far, but it does not work:

Data VSD22;
Set VSD21;
Code=tranwrd(Code,'.','');
end;

Thank you in advance

Re: Remove Character in String

Tom — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 20:12:45 GMT

To remove characters use COMPRESS(). To end a data step use RUN statement. END is use to end a DO loop, which your code does not include.

data VSD22;
  set VSD21;
  Code=compress(Code,'.');
run;

TRANWRD() is for replacing strings with other strings. Example: tranwrd(string,'hello','good-bye')

Normal SAS syntax does not generate empty string, so just because you did not type the space between the quotes you still gave tranwrd a string with one space to replace the string with one period.

If you want to replace a string with nothing you will need to use TRANSTRN() function. To actually create an empty string instead of the string with one blank space you would need to use TRIMN() function. Example: transtrn(string,'remove me',trimn(' '))

Re: Remove Character in String

Jesusismygrace — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:12:43 GMT

Thank you!