topic Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable in SAS Programming

Finding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

joesmama — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 01:00:01 GMT

Hello,

I am trying to search an 80 character variable in my dataset called PROCDUCT and categorize its contents. For example, I'd like to search PRODUCT for any of the words related to a book (paperback, volume, etc) and then create a new product variable that contains with word BOOK for that record. I've tried FIND and FINDW but its not returning the results I'm looking for. What is the best way to go about this?

Thank you.

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

Reeza — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:55:36 GMT

One approach is to split each product to the word level, summarize and categorize the words according to PROC FREQ summaries and subject matter expertise and then add flags. You can then transpose the sentence back with the flags for the terms of interest.

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

PGStats — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:59:56 GMT

You could use regular expression matching, such as

isBook = prxMatch("/\b(paperback|volume|book\b/i", PRODUCT);

if isBook then productKind = "Book";

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

joesmama — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 20:35:35 GMT

Thank you. I've tried that and it keeps coming back blank. I've tried with FINDW as well and that comes back blank or empty as well. Am I missing something? . Why would it come back as blank? Alsp, my string is actually 232 characters long. Appreciate your help.

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

joesmama — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 20:36:55 GMT

That sounds like it might work. I'm not familiar with how to do that. Can you point me in the right direction please? Thanks.

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

PGStats — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 21:49:53 GMT

Show us an example of what you tried. Regular expression matching is a great tool for dealing with text. It is worth spending the time to learn how it works.

Re: FInding a word in a string and assigning it to a new variable

joesmama — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 01:01:35 GMT

Looks like one of my parentheses was out of order. It worked like a charm. Thank you!