How to delete a character

[L_L]

Dear

I have to "clean" a variable (eliminating ~ when is at the beginning or at the end of the variable)  that occurs in this way:

active1~active2 ~ ~

active1~ ~~ ~

~active2

active3 ~active4 (it's OK)

Have you got any idea?

Thanks in advance for any help

Kind regards

[RW9]

Several, try tranwrd(string,"~",""), the replace function, loop over the character array etc.  Check out string functions SAS help documentation.

[Haikuo · Accepted solution]

This is a job for PRX functions, such as

data test;

input var $ 50.;

new_var=prxchange('s/^(~| )+|(~| )+$//io',-1,var);

cards;

active1~active2 ~ ~

active1~ ~~ ~

~active2

~~ ~active3 ~active4

;

Regards,

Haikuo