Truncate Data in SAS

[deleted_user]

Hi everyone. I am having problems with some data so I hope someone can help.

I have 2 datasets, one from 2001 and one from 2002. I need to merge the data by ID but the thing is, for the 2002 data the ID is exactly the same as for 2001 except there is an extra digit at the end for the ID for 2002.

Is there anyway to create a new ID variable where I can drop the last digit of each of the IDs for 2002 so that they match the 2001 data?

Thanks for the help!

[sbb]

The SUBSTR function can be used in a DATA step to remove the last digit, or if you code a LENGTH statement ahead of the SET statement (presuming your input is already in a SAS database), the resulting ID variable will automatically be truncated. I prefer using the SUBSTR approach, which makes it more obvious and easier to document with comments.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.