delete lines based on a character (SAS 9.4)

[Annie_Fréchette]

Hi! I would like to delete some lines from my data. See the print screen for an overview.

I want to remove the lines from the cows who have a chain_number starting with an "N". How can I ask this to SAS?

Thanks!

[PaigeMiller]

if left(chain_number)=:'N' then delete;

[Annie_Fréchette]

Do I need to sort by chain_number first?

Thanks,

[PaigeMiller]

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@Annie_Fréchette wrote:

Do I need to sort by chain_number first?

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No.

[Annie_Fréchette]

Hi, when I used the code it changed nothing so I have tried

data f6r;
set f6;
if first(chain_number)='N' then delete;
run;

first instead of left, and it worked!

But as I explore my data, I see that sometimes the N is after a space or at the end of the number. Can we ask: if you see an "N" no matter where you see it then delete?

Thanks

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

So I'm pretty sure my original code works. Did you leave out the colon between = and 'N' ? It's easy to overlook.

 if you see an "N" no matter where you see it then delete?

if find(chain_number,'N')>0 then delete;

[Annie_Fréchette]

Thanks, with this line everything is ok!

[novinosrin]

where first(strip(chain_number)) ne 'N';