topic COMPGED function in SAS Programming

COMPGED function

sf388 — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:01:59 GMT

I asked for help from SAS tech support on a specific example of a COMPGED function application, but was only referred to the SAS documentation. I would appreciate it if someone familiar with the COMPGED function can give some insight into the following:

I have compared the following two text strings using this function:

COMPGED('F350SUPERDUTYDRWCREWCAB','F350SUPERDUTYCREWCAB172WB')

and the result is 620. I'm unable to figure out the operations that were used in determining this cost, and I have not changed the default costs. It seems to me that one way to construct string 1 from string 2 is to
1) truncate the last 5 characters (cost = 10*5 = 50)
2) insert the 3 characters DRW (cost = 100*3 = 300)
for a total cost of 350. Can someone explain why COMPGED returns 620?

Re: COMPGED function

sf388 — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:12:00 GMT

Is it that the last 2 characters (WB) get "truncated" (10*2=20) and then the "172" gets "deleted" (100*3=300) because string2 is 2 characters longer than string1?
So, the cost of removing "172WB" is actually 320, not 50?

Re: COMPGED function

sbb — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:15:09 GMT

How about Google search the SAS.COM support site?

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

Suggested Google advanced search argument, this topic / post:
+COMPGED +example site:sas.com