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.
How about use "prxchange".
name="j** ney";
txt = prxchange('s/\*\*/*/',-1,name);
put txt=;
Best Regards,
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);
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;
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