need to seperate full name to last and firstname using substring function

[ambadi007]

Need to seperate the comma delimited  full name to last name and first name. 

The word in front of the comma as the Last Name column and the word after the comma as First Name . I have tried with attached code and getting the errors like :-

NOTE: Invalid second argument to function SUBSTR at line 6059 column 12.

NAME=UNKNOWN LAST_NAME= FIRST_NAME=UNKNOWN _ERROR_=1 _N_=35

data namepart; 
set TEST; 
length LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME $45; 
LAST_NAME= substr(name,index(name,',') - 1); 
FIRST_NAME = trim(left(substr(name,index(name,',') + 1))); 
run;

[art297]

Add a starting position to the line where you are trying to create lastname. i.e.,

LAST_NAME= substr(name,1,index(name,',') - 1); 

However, it sounds like you might have some names that are missing commas.

HTH,

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

[Astounding]

In theory, this should be easy:

last_name = scan(name, 1, ',');

first_name = scan(name, 2, ',');

In practice, a little more care needs to be taken.  There may be no commas, for example.  (That may be why you ran into trouble with the INDEX function returning a zero.)  And if there is a blank after the comma, you may need to use:

first_name = left(scan(name, 2, ','));

And what should happen if there are actually two commas, such as a last name that contains ", Jr."

[Shmuel · Accepted solution]

Check your code with light modification:

data namepart; 
   set TEST; 
         length LAST_NAME FIRST_NAME $45; 
         pos = index(name, ',');
         if pos > 0 then do;
            LAST_NAME= substr(name,1, pos - 1); 
            FIRST_NAME = trim(left(substr(name,pos + 1))); 
         end; else put '>>> No comma in name, line=' _N_;
run;

By the way, you can do:

strip(substr(name,index(name,',') + 1)))

instead using left(trim(...

You can also do:

last_name = scan(name,1 ',');
first_name = scan(name,2,',');