topic Re: Has anyone had success with the T modifier in FINDW() function? in SAS Programming

Has anyone had success with the T modifier in FINDW() function?

RichardAD — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:13:22 GMT

In this example I expect FINDW to trim the BE value in element and find a match. It does not.

The only case FINDW works for me is when there is an explicit trim of the word and the T modifier is left out.

data _null_;
  length element $8;

  element = 'BE';
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,' ','it');
  put found_at= ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,' ',1,'it');
  put found_at= ;

  delims = ' ' ;
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,delims,'it');
  put found_at= ;

  delims = ' ' ;
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,1,delims,'it');
  put found_at= ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','it');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim I and T modifiers' ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','i');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim only I modifier';

  found_at = findw('Be H He Li B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','it');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim I and T modifiers, Be first position' ;
run;

found_at=0
found_at=0
found_at=0
found_at=0
found_at=0 explicit trim I and T modifiers
found_at=9 explicit trim only I modifier
found_at=0 explicit trim I and T modifiers, Be first position

Re: Has anyone had success with the T modifier in FINDW() function?

Tom — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:22:55 GMT

The T modifier removes the spaces. Add the space back into the delimiter list by using the S modifier.

s or S

adds space characters (blank, horizontal tab, vertical tab, carriage return, line feed, and form feed) to the list of characters.

t or T

trims trailing blanks from the string, word, and character arguments.

Try this:

data _null_;
  length element $8;
  element = 'BE';
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,' ','sit');
  put found_at= ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,' ',1,'sit');
  put found_at= ;

  delims = ' ' ;
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,delims,'sit');
  put found_at= ;

  delims = ' ' ;
  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',element,1,delims,'sit');
  put found_at= ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','sit');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim I and T modifiers' ;

  found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','si');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim only I modifier';

  found_at = findw('Be H He Li B C N O F Ne',trim(element),' ','sit');
  put found_at= 'explicit trim I and T modifiers, Be first position' ;
run;

Result

 found_at=9
 found_at=9
 found_at=9
 found_at=9
 found_at=9 explicit trim I and T modifiers
 found_at=9 explicit trim only I modifier
 found_at=1 explicit trim I and T modifiers, Be first position

Re: Has anyone had success with the T modifier in FINDW() function?

RichardAD — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:24:09 GMT

t or T - trims trailing blanks from the string, word, and character arguments.

r or R - removes leading and trailing delimiters from the word argument.

It comes to light that that T modifier is not to be used when the only delimiter character is a space. T will trim the space to nothing, and the function will happily fart in your general direction with no delimiters.

R is the proper modifier for the case of a space delimiter.

Re: Has anyone had success with the T modifier in FINDW() function?

Ksharp — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 06:46:08 GMT

I was usually happy to use STRIP() instead of T modification.

7    data _null_;
8      length element $8;
9      element = 'BE';
10     found_at = findw('H He Li Be B C N O F Ne',strip(element),' ','i');
11     put found_at= ;
12     run;

found_at=9