where statement

[avepo]

Hi ,

I want to subset a dataset either using IF or Where statement.

But I have multiple values such that it will be difficult to type them all out.

Example,

Data want;

set have;

if  country in ( "a-z"); (not sure if I can use where instead of if here)

run;

How do I write a syntax without typing a,b,c,.....z (character values for variable country)?

Thanks

[RW9]

You can reverse the logic here and compress out values like alphabetic easily, then see if the length is still > 0, e.g.

data want;
  set have;
  if lengthn(compress(country," ","a"))=0;
run;

So, take all the alphabetic characters out of country, then if the length is zero you know it was only those.

[Astounding]

It doesn't matter if you use IF vs. WHERE.  Either way "a-z" is not something that SAS will interpret correctly. 

Where is the list of acceptable country names right now?  On a piece of paper?  In your head?  In another data set?

Will the data contain all lowercase letters?  Initial caps?  Upper case only?  Will it vary from data set to data set?

Those are the questions you need to address before starting to write a program.

[art297]

Here are examples using both if and where:

data have;
  input country $;
  cards;
US
Mexico
Canada
1st nation of tribes
;

data want;
  set have;
  if  rank(upcase(first(country))) in ( 65:90);
run;

data want;
  set have (where=(rank(upcase(first(country))) in ( 65:90)));
run;

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

[Ksharp]

@art297  NOTALPHA() is good .

data have;
  input country $40.;
  cards;
US
Mexico
Canada
1st nation of tribes
;

data want;
  set have;
  if notalpha(country)=1;
run;