Carry forward character variable value

[vpgodbole]

Hi All,

I have this dataset:

Exposure  Name

101           Sandra

101           

101           Tiffany

101           Abel

101

101           

I Want :

Expsoure  Name

101           Sandra

101           Sandra

101           Tiffany

101           Abel

101           Abel

101           Abel

How can I carry forward character value to subsequent missing rows until it reaches a non-missing cell.

I tried using lag but it doesn't work if more than 1 row has missing value.

Thanks!

[novinosrin]

data have;
infile datalines truncover;
input (Exposure  Name) ($);
cards;
101           Sandra
101           
101           Tiffany
101           Abel
101
101           
;

data want;
set have;
by exposure;
length n $50;
retain n ;
if first.exposure then call missing(n);
if not missing(name) then n=name;
else name=n;
drop n;
run;

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

data want;
set have;
retain _name;
if name > ''
then _name = name;
else name = _name;
drop _name;
run;

[novinosrin]

data have;
infile datalines truncover;
input (Exposure  Name) ($);
cards;
101           Sandra
101           
101           Tiffany
101           Abel
101
101           
;
data want;
update have(obs=0) have;
by exposure;
output;
run;