topic Re: How do I concatenate several text columns while ignoring missing values? in SAS Programming

How do I concatenate several text columns while ignoring missing values?

amanda_cr — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 16:34:35 GMT

Hi,

Here is what my data looks like:

Unique ID Col1 Col2 Col3 Col4

1 Text1 Text3

2 Text1 Text2 Text4

4 Text2 Text3

I'm trying to create a new column that lists all the text from column 1 through 4, with commas and a single between the different texts, and that shows nothing when there is no text. Here's what I want:

Unique ID NewCol

1 Text1, Text3

2 Text1, Text2, Text4

4 Text2, Text3

I can't seem to figure out a way with out creating ", , ," for line 3, and extra commas in the text strings (this creates a problem since I actually have 29 columns of text I'm trying to put in a text sting in a single column).

Any suggestions?

Amanda

Re: How do I concatenate several text columns while ignoring missing values?

ballardw — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 17:15:40 GMT

In a datastep

new_col = catx(',',col1, col2,col3,col4);

the first argument in the catx function is the character(s) to place between the values indicated. Blanks are suppressed

Re: How do I concatenate several text columns while ignoring missing values?

amanda_cr — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:18:06 GMT

Works perfect! Thank you for your help!

Re: How do I concatenate several text columns while ignoring missing values?

amanda_cr — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 19:18:15 GMT

Works perfect and so simple! Thank you.