topic Re: Create a fixed length character field from a variable length field in SAS Programming

Create a fixed length character field from a variable length field

ghosh — Mon, 13 May 2019 03:26:49 GMT

I would like to convert a char variable (KID) consisting of one or two digits and sometimes a letter appended to it, into a 5 digit character string starting with the letter K followed by the existing variable with zeroes inserted in between (_ID). Ideally I would like to use a user-defined format to do the conversion or perhaps a more efficient approach than what I currently have:

	Select;
		When (length(KID)=1) Pad='000';
		When (length(KID)=2) Pad='00';
		otherwise Pad='0';
	End;
		_ID = cats('K',Pad,KID);

Here are the Have (KIDS) and Want (_ID) variables:

KID _ID
1a K001a
1b K001b
2a K002a
2b K002b
3 K0003
4 K0004
5 K0005
6 K0006
7 K0007
8 K0008
9 K0009
10 K0010
11 K0011
11a K011a
11b K011b
12a K012a
12b K012b

Thanks!

Re: Create a fixed length character field from a variable length field

Tom — Mon, 13 May 2019 03:49:35 GMT

You could use the REPEAT function.

length _id $5;
_id='K'||repeat('0',3-length(kid))||kid;

Re: Create a fixed length character field from a variable length field

Ksharp — Mon, 13 May 2019 13:05:19 GMT

data have;
input KID $ _ID $;
length temp $ 4;
temp=kid;
want=cats('K',translate(right(temp),'0',' '));
cards;
1a K001a
1b K001b
2a K002a
2b K002b
3 K0003
4 K0004
5 K0005
6 K0006
7 K0007
8 K0008
9 K0009
10 K0010
11 K0011
11a K011a
11b K011b
12a K012a
12b K012b
;

Re: Create a fixed length character field from a variable length field

ghosh — Mon, 13 May 2019 15:55:21 GMT

Thanks Tom! Great solution, plus I can adapt it for longer strings.