COMPRESS

[rawindar]

name=j** ney

in the above data value there is a two * are there after J.Using compress we can remove this *.But i need to remove only 1 *.How can i write the code.

[Hoz]

How about use "prxchange".

name="j** ney";

txt = prxchange('s/\*\*/*/',-1,name);

put txt=;

Best Regards,

[Keith]

I agree with Hoz, prxchange is the way to do this.  A slight modification to Hoz's code will replace any number of consecutive * to a single *.

txt = prxchange('s/\*+/*/',-1,name);

[Patrick]

Using a regular expression with prxchange() is for sure a very powerful way of modifying a string.

Considering that it's such a simple text pattern and the question is asked in the "Getting started" forum using a function like TRANSTRN() is also acceptable.

data _null_;

  myVariable='name=j** ney';

  myVariable=TRANSTRN(myVariable,'**','*');

  put myVariable=;

run;