Only take last string from multiple strings

[scha1996]

Hello

I'm currently in the process of learning SAS using SAS Enterprise Guide and I was wondering if there was a way to extract the last string after a semicolon and space.

For example: Stephanie; Ashley; David

I would like to be able to extract JUST David from this if possible. Please let me know if you need any additional details.

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

data _null_;
  string = 'Stephanie; Ashley; David';
  last_word = scan(string, countw(string));
  put _all_;
run;

[scha1996]

Thank you so much! 😊

[andreas_lds]

The scan function has an option to let it start looking from end of the string onwards. In this case the solution provided by @SASKiwi seems to be easier to understand, but if you need the second last-word, i would use:

data _null_;
  string = 'Stephanie; Ashley; David';
  last_word = scan(string, 2, '; ', 'b');
  put _all_;
run;

[mkeintz]

In fact, you don't even need the 'B' parameter for backward scanning.  Any negative number in he second parameter tells sas to scan backwards:

data _null_;
  string = 'Stephanie; Ashley; David';
  last_word=scan(string,-1,';');
  put (_all_) (=);
run;