findw does not work on fixed string using sysfunc, but does in datastep

weg — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 21:54:30 GMT

I need to get the index of a macro value in another macro string. findw seemed like it would work for this but it does not work with sysfunc. I made an example below.

the code below sets varfind = 0 and varfinddata =3; the warning message is:

WARNING: In a call to the FINDW function or routine, the modifier "'" not valid.

quoting the space such as

varfind = %sysfunc(findw("&testin","&count",%str(" "), %nrstr(%str('E')) ));

does not seem to help. what is failing when trying to use sysfunc?

%let testin =v vsd count f;
%let count =count;


%macro test();
    var="&testin";
    varfind = %sysfunc(findw(&testin,"&count",' ', 'E'));
    
    varfinddata=findw("&testin","&count", ' ', 'E');

%mend test;


data a;
%test
run;

Re: findw does not work on fixed string using sysfunc, but does in datastep

Reeza — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 22:14:48 GMT

%let testin = v vsd count f;
%let count =count;
%let varfind = 0;

%let varfind = %sysfunc(findw(&testin, &count, %str(' ')  , e));
%put &varfind;

This works for me.

@weg wrote:

I need to get the index of a macro value in another macro string. findw seemed like it would work for this but it does not work with sysfunc. I made an example below.

the code below sets varfind = 0 and varfinddata =3; the warning message is:
WARNING: In a call to the FINDW function or routine, the modifier "'" not valid.
quoting the space such as
varfind = %sysfunc(findw("&testin","&count",%str(" "), %nrstr(%str('E')) ));
does not seem to help. what is failing when trying to use sysfunc?
%let testin =v vsd count f;
%let count =count;


%macro test();
    var="&testin";
    varfind = %sysfunc(findw(&testin,"&count",' ', 'E'));
    
    varfinddata=findw("&testin","&count", ' ', 'E');

%mend test;


data a;
%test
run;

topic findw does not work on fixed string using sysfunc, but does in datastep in SAS Programming

findw does not work on fixed string using sysfunc, but does in datastep

Re: findw does not work on fixed string using sysfunc, but does in datastep