topic Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd in SAS Programming

Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

RobinL — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:00:09 GMT

Hi all.

I'm having a problem with a recursive subroutine in proc FCMP, which I'm using as an example in some training I'm doing.

It is designed to get rid of multiple commas in a string. The function works fine for me if I copy it into standard data step code, but returns 'gobbldygook' characters when using FCMP and recursion.

The following code illustrates: Dataset A comes back with the following value in variable teststring: " dÐdÐ,Dave,James,Bob". I've tried variations on the code, and the first 5 characters always come out as random special characters.

Dataset B comes back with the correct string: "John,Jim,Dave,James,Bob"

I'd really appreciate any help in understanding why it's not working properly.

Thanks very much,

Robin

options cmplib=work.myfuncs;

proc fcmp outlib = work.myfuncs.mylib;

subroutine decomma(mystring $);

outargs mystring;

mystring = tranwrd(mystring,",,",",");

a = index(mystring,",,");

if a > 0 then call decomma(mystring);

endsub;

run;

data a;

teststring = "John,,,Jim,,Dave,,,James,Bob";

call decomma(teststring);

run;

data b;

mystring = "John,,,Jim,,Dave,,,James,Bob";

mystring = tranwrd(mystring,",,",",");

run;

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

andreas_lds — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 13:06:19 GMT

Tested your programm using SAS 9.2 M3 and 9.3 M2. It seems to be a bug in 9.2, code works without any problem in 9.3.

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

data_null__ — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:04:30 GMT

Do you need recursion?

data _null_; 
   mystring = "John,,,Jim,,Dave,,,James,Bob"; 
   do while(index(mystring,',,'));
      mystring = tranwrd(mystring,',,',',');
      end; 
   put mystring=;
   run;

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

RobinL — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:03:18 GMT

Thanks very much for the responses. You're right that recursion is not needed here - it's an example I'm using in a training exercise to demonstrate the principle of recursion, and the fact it's possible to use it in SAS. Unfortunately, since it's buggy in my version of SAS, it appears that it's not a very example!

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

RobinL — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:04:23 GMT

Thank you very much for the testing. So it appears that from a SAS code point of view, there isn't actually a mistake, and it's a bug?

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

data_null__ — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:26:15 GMT

Can you make it work with two arguments to your call routine. Where in and out are different variables. That might "fix" the problem.

Re: Problems with Proc FCMP recursion and tranwrd

RobinL — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:19:38 GMT

I'll try that when I'm back at work next week. I've now been able to test on a different v9.2 system with no problems, and it seems to be a bug with the specific version of SAS I'm using. Thanks again for replies.