Concatnate values if the variable has data

[jerry898969]

I have a data table with 5 vars that I want to do some work with.  The names of these vars are Sec1-Sec5

Sec1 Sec2 Sec3 Sec4 Sec5

Test1 Test2 Test3         Test5

Test1

         Test2          Test4

With the above data I need to create a field that will tell me which fields are populated.

I want my end result to look like this

1,2,3,5

1

2,4

What is the best way to approach this?

Thank you

[JerryLeBreton]

A little array processing is one way to solve this...

data want;

  set have;

  array Secs[5] sec1-sec5;

  length populated $10;

  do i = 1 to 5;

     if secs ne '' then

       populated = catx(',', populated, put(i,1.));

  end;

  drop i;

run;

[PGStats]

Or, adding a few tricks of the trade (learned mostly on this Forum) :

data want;

set have;

array S{*} sec:;

length populated $10;

do i = 1 to dim(S);

     if not missing(S{i}) then

          populated = catx(',', populated, i);

     end;

drop i;

run;

PG

[Jagadishkatam]

alternatively,

data want;

    set have;

    populated=compress(catx(',',of sec1-sec5),,'a');

run;

Thanks,

Jagadish