topic Using loc function to determine if a variable contains a string in SAS/IML Software and Matrix Computations https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-IML-Software-and-Matrix/Using-loc-function-to-determine-if-a-variable-contains-a-string/m-p/140792#M1150 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>I am trying to use the loc function to subset a matrix but it is not working how I would like it to. I have a column of data that can contain up to 10 characters and I want to subset based on whether or not a set of 2 characters is within that string. Example: Entire variable contents could be "YAPTGR" and I want to keep that observation if that variable contains "PT." I have tried just doing loc(Variable = 'PT') but that only keeps the observation if 'PT' is the only contents of the variable. Is this possible using the loc function or do I need to use something else within IML? Thanks for the help!</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:28:56 GMT kelchenk 2015-01-27T21:28:56Z Using loc function to determine if a variable contains a string https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-IML-Software-and-Matrix/Using-loc-function-to-determine-if-a-variable-contains-a-string/m-p/140792#M1150 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>I am trying to use the loc function to subset a matrix but it is not working how I would like it to. I have a column of data that can contain up to 10 characters and I want to subset based on whether or not a set of 2 characters is within that string. Example: Entire variable contents could be "YAPTGR" and I want to keep that observation if that variable contains "PT." I have tried just doing loc(Variable = 'PT') but that only keeps the observation if 'PT' is the only contents of the variable. Is this possible using the loc function or do I need to use something else within IML? Thanks for the help!</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:28:56 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-IML-Software-and-Matrix/Using-loc-function-to-determine-if-a-variable-contains-a-string/m-p/140792#M1150 kelchenk 2015-01-27T21:28:56Z Re: Using loc function to determine if a variable contains a string https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-IML-Software-and-Matrix/Using-loc-function-to-determine-if-a-variable-contains-a-string/m-p/140793#M1151 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Try combining the INDEX and LOC functions like this:</P><P></P><P>&nbsp; a = {'AAA','BPT','PTC','PDT'};</P><P>&nbsp; b = a[ loc(index(a, 'PT')) ];</P></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Jan 2015 10:52:25 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-IML-Software-and-Matrix/Using-loc-function-to-determine-if-a-variable-contains-a-string/m-p/140793#M1151 IanWakeling 2015-01-28T10:52:25Z