HOW TO GET FIRST 2 CHARACTER IN SAS

[Zizie]

I have a data with different length character. I want to have 2 first character for example '1232' to become '12'

data b;

set a;

new1=substr(LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE,1,3);

run;

[Kurt_Bremser]

The third parameter of the substr() function is the length to be extracted, so it should be "2" in your case.

Another merthod is to forgo the substr() altogether and define the new variable with the wanted length, causing an implicit truncation:

data _null_;
LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = "1232";
length new1 $2;
new1 = LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE;
put new1=;
run;

Log:

27         data _null_;
28         LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = "1232";
29         length new1 $2;
30         new1 = LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE;
31         put new1=;
32         run;

new1=12

[Zizie]

thank you.

data b;
set a;

LENGTH NEW1 $2;
NEW1=left(new);
RUN;

[Zizie]

Can I use the same method if it is numeric value

[Kurt_Bremser]

With a numeric value, you have to take care of the conversion from numeric to character. substr() is a character function.

If you always have 4 digits, you could keep it numeric:

data _null_;
LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = 1232;
new1 = int(LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE/100);
put new1=;
run;

Log:

27         data _null_;
28         LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = 1232;
29         new1 = int(LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE/100);
30         put new1=;
31         run;

new1=12

"Clean" programming (see Maxim 25) mandates the avoidance of implicit type conversions (and the corresponding NOTEs in the log):

data _null_;
LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = 1232;
new1 = substr(left(put(LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE,4.)),1,2);
put new1=;
run;

Log:

27         data _null_;
28         LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE = 1232;
29         new1 = substr(left(put(LOAN_APPLCTN_BNM_CODE,4.)),1,2);
30         put new1=;
31         run;

new1=12