topic Re: %scan not reading all characters in SAS Programming

%scan not reading all characters

Batman — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:35:06 GMT

I have a macro array of formats, however the %scan function is dropping the "$" and ".", how can I get %scan to read those characters?

27 %put macro array of format values is &formats;
macro array of format values is $2. 8. $6. $55. DATETIME19. DATETIME19. $1.
28 %put fourth scanned format value is %scan(&formats,4);
fourth scanned format value is 55

Re: %scan not reading all characters

Quentin — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 13:39:48 GMT

Specify that %scan should only use a blank, %str( ) as the delimiter, e.g.:

1    %let formatlist=$2. 8. $6. $55. DATETIME19. DATETIME19. $1.  ;
2    %put %scan(&formatlist,4,%str( )) ;
$55.

Re: %scan not reading all characters

ballardw — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 15:29:42 GMT

Read the friendly manual. The documentation for %scan includes this bit clearly showing that the $ character by default treated as a delimiter.

If you use the %SCAN function with only two arguments, then the default delimiters depend on whether your computer uses ASCII or EBCDIC characters.

If your computer uses ASCII characters, then the default delimiters are as follows:

blank ! $ % & ( ) * + , - . / ; < ^¦

In ASCII environments that do not contain the ^ character, the %SCAN function uses the ~ character instead.

If your computer uses EBCDIC characters, then the default delimiters are as follows:

blank ! $ % & ( ) * + , - . / ; < ¬ | ¢¦