https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Reg-expression/m-p/45547#M9422 I'm guessing the MD|M.D. is optional, so your missing a ? after that (makes the preceding item optional).<BR /> <BR /> Add the ? (see under), then it should work fine for Dr. William Patterson.<BR /> [pre]<BR /> _EXPR='s/(Dr.)?(\s*\S*)\s*?\S*?(\s+)(\S*)\s*(MD|M.D.)?\s*/$2 $4/i';<BR /> [/pre]<BR /> Cheers from Portugal<BR /> <BR /> Daniel Santos @ <A href="http://www.cgd.pt" target="_blank">www.cgd.pt</A> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:39:10 GMT DanielSantos 2010-01-22T16:39:10Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Reg-expression/m-p/45546#M9421 I used the following reg expression to separate the physicians name as first and last.<BR /> _EXPR='s/(Dr.)?(\s*\S*)\s*?\S*?(\s+)(\S*)\s*(MD|M.D.)\s*/$2 $4/i';<BR /> _REGX=prxparse(_EXPR);<BR /> _PRX=prxchange(_REGX,1,name);<BR /> * split parsed text into desired variables;<BR /> physician_FIRST_name=scan(_PRX,1);<BR /> physician_LAST_name=scan(_PRX,2);<BR /> <BR /> The above logic is not working for Dr. William Patterson.<BR /> I',m getting physician_FIRST_name as Dr and physician_last_name as William.<BR /> How to get William Patterson as first and last names. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:23:59 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Reg-expression/m-p/45546#M9421 SASPhile 2010-01-22T16:23:59Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Reg-expression/m-p/45547#M9422 I'm guessing the MD|M.D. is optional, so your missing a ? after that (makes the preceding item optional).<BR /> <BR /> Add the ? (see under), then it should work fine for Dr. William Patterson.<BR /> [pre]<BR /> _EXPR='s/(Dr.)?(\s*\S*)\s*?\S*?(\s+)(\S*)\s*(MD|M.D.)?\s*/$2 $4/i';<BR /> [/pre]<BR /> Cheers from Portugal<BR /> <BR /> Daniel Santos @ <A href="http://www.cgd.pt" target="_blank">www.cgd.pt</A> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:39:10 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Reg-expression/m-p/45547#M9422 DanielSantos 2010-01-22T16:39:10Z