Count with modifer

[pavank]

Hi Guys 

Here count function modifier 't'  or 'T' doesn't trim trailing blanks where i was wrong please fix error

data count;
name="Tokyo Olympics 2020          ";
x=count(name,'a');
x1=count(name,'a','i');
x2=count(name,'2','T');
xlength=length(x);
x1ength=length(x1);
x2length=length(x2);

run;

[Kurt_Bremser]

COUNT returns a number; using LENGTH on a number will cause that number to be converted to character using the BEST. format (IIRC, BEST12.).

[pavank]

data count;
name="Tokyo Olympics 2020          ";
x=count(name,'a');
x1=count(name,'a','i');
x2=count(name,'a','T');
xlength=length(x);
x1ength=length(x1);
x2length=length(x2);


run;

x2length    result length is 12 even if I use letter 'a' 

[andreas_lds]

I will just repeat what @Kurt_Bremser already said:

1. count returns a number
2. using the function length on a number is not possible, so sas converts the number into a string (see the log: "Numeric values have been converted to character values")
3. sas uses the format best12 to convert the number => the string will always have the length of 12.

[Kurt_Bremser]

---

@pavank wrote:

data count;
name="Tokyo Olympics 2020          ";
x=count(name,'a');
x1=count(name,'a','i');
x2=count(name,'a','T');
xlength=length(x);
x1ength=length(x1);
x2length=length(x2);


run;

x2length    result length is 12 even if I use letter 'a' 

---

That's because the BEST12. format results in a string with the number right-adjusted, and LENGTH counts all characters up to the last non-blank character, including all leading blanks.