topic Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR in SAS Programming

Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

jcis7 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:54:38 GMT

Hello,

I'm getting teh folloiwng error: Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

The variable cdcode is text and 14 characters long.

Here's my code:

data new;

set old;

length co $2 dist $5 sch $7;

co=substr(cdcode, 1,2);

dist=substr(cdcode, 3,7);

sch=substr(cdcode,8,14);

run;

Can you help me understand why I'm getting this message?

Thanks!

Re: Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

Doc_Duke — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:00:31 GMT

RTFM. Your code should read

sch=substr(cdcode,8,7);

Re: Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

jcis7 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:05:49 GMT

Thank you! Is it because it's the last part of the cdcode that it's 7 instead of 14?

Re: Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

Doc_Duke — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:18:20 GMT

from the reference manual

"Interaction:If length is zero, a negative value, or larger than the length of the expression that remains in string after position, SAS extracts the remainder of the expression. SAS also sets _ERROR_ to 1 and prints a note to the log indicating that the length argument is invalid."

Re: Invalid third argument to function SUBSTR

jcis7 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:22:50 GMT

Thank you!!