Delete everything after the 2nd string character

[SAS_New_User1]

I have a string

:20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-

I want to delete everything after the 2nd :START: and also delete :START: i.e. the desired output is as below, what should I do? I used index function and substr but it is truncating all the characters after the first :START:. Please help. 

:20:catclimbedthetree:START:dogranaftercat

Thank you

[Reeza]

You only have one START in your example not two.
Do you mean STOP?
Your description of the problem and example do not align.

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@SAS_New_User1 wrote:

I have a string

:20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-

I want to delete everything after the 2nd :START: and also delete :START: i.e. the desired output is as below, what should I do? I used index function and substr but it is truncating all the characters after the first :START:. Please help. 

:20:catclimbedthetree:START:dogranaftercat

Thank you

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[SAS_New_User1]

yes, I meant :STOP:

sorry about that

[Reeza]

1. Use FINDW() to find the first STOP.
2. Use FINDW() again to find the second STOP - use the starting position from the first answer as a parameter to the second call to find the start of the second STOP
3. Use SUBSTR() to substring the string to the desired length - from 1 to the answer from step 2.

Documentation for FINDW.
https://documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.5&docsetId=lefunctionsref&docsetTarg...

If you're having issues post your code something as follows:

data have;
string = ":20:catclimbedthetree:STOP:dogranaftercat:STOP:catwasinthehouse:-";
firstSTOP = findw( .... ); * you need to fill in the appropriate parameters;
secondStop = findw(string, ...., firstStop); * you need to fill in the appropriate parameters;
want = substr(1, secondSTop);
run;

[ballardw]

The pattern searches and selections with Substr for the specified positions are very similar to some of your prior questions.

What have you tried so far?