can i define double space as a separator in sas scan function

[LukaszStasiak]

Hi,

I have a field that have two names in it, separated by two-spaces. how do I get only the second person from this field?

examples:

---1st person--------  -----2nd person------

LUKASZ STASIAK  ANNA KAROWIEC

            ^1 space    ^2

-----------1st person---------  ------------2nd person---------

ADAM KAPEC KOWALKI  JURAND ZE SPYCHOWA

         ^1           ^1              ^2             ^1  ^1

this:

sender   = scan(tpp_name, 1, " ");

receiver = scan(tpp_name, 2, " ");

treats the "  " as <space separator><space separator> not <double space separator>. Is there any workaround for that?

Thanks

Lukasz

[ballardw · Accepted solution]

Work around would likely involve the INDEX function which returns the start position of one string within another or zero if not found.

pos = index(tpp_name ,'  ');

sender = substr(tpp_name ,1,pos-1);

receiver =  substr(tpp_name ,pos+2);

should work but you should set the lengths of the sender and receiver varaibles before use.

[Ksharp]

Check modification 'M':

scan(tpp_name, 2, " ",'m');

[LukaszStasiak]

doesn't work as intended - it returns the second word from the string 

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:

  Both FIND and INDEX worked for me.

cynthia