topic Re: Why this simple data step doesn't work? (findw/if/else) in SAS Programming

Why this simple data step doesn't work? (findw/if/else)

EinarRoed — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 09:25:08 GMT

Hello,

If the input variable contains a comma, then the containscomma variable should be set to 1:

data _null;
	input = "Why, oh why";
	if findw(input, ",") > 0 then do; containscomma=1; end;
	else containscomma=0;
	put containscomma;
run;

It does contains a comma, yet containscomma is set to 0.

Can someone please advise on how I can make the code work as intended?

Re: Why this simple data step doesn't work? (findw/if/else)

RW9 — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 09:31:44 GMT

Findw is a function for finding a word delimited by certain characters. Comma is not a word, it is a delimiter. If you want to find text in another you can use index() - these are all well described in the manual:

data _null;
	input = "Why, oh why";
	containscomma=ifn(index(input,","),1,0);
	put containscomma;
run;

Note I use the binary choise ifn() function to simplfy the code. Also, I do not put an operator after the index, basically if index finds the character then the result is a positive number, hence if positive number=true return first, else second.