Deleting / Keeping a subset of observations

[r4321]

Hello all, 

Forgive me if my code is a bit elementary, but I code use some help with a simple data step question. 

I am trying to keep a subset of observations in my data. I've often done this in the past by using if var = "..." then delete in a data step. However, if I did it that way, I would have far too many to delete. Alternatively, if i did it by using if var ne "..." then delete, I would have to use a bunch of data steps and then merge into a large file, which is also not super convenient. I'm wondering can I do something like

data want;
set have;
keep if var1 = "CharacterName";
keep if var1 = "CharacterName1";
keep if var1 = "CharacterName2";
keep if var1 = "CharacterName3";
run;

However, when I run this, it doesn't work of course. 

Any suggestions? 

Thanks in advance!

[Patrick · Accepted solution]

@r4321 

The KEEP statement defines variables (columns) you want to keep in your output data set (the one defined using DATA ....). SAS tables are rectangular so it's either keep a column or don't. Also for this reason a KEEP statement is never conditional.

You want to remove rows. With SAS you normally simply create a new table (WANT in your case) and then select the rows you want.

Syntax you could use:

if var1 in ('CharacterName', 'CharacterName1',....);

[r4321]

Thank you!