How can I remove only the 2nd space in a string?
data _null_; x='xxx yyy zzz'; call scan(x,3,p,l,' '); want=substr(x,1,p-2)||substr(x,p); put x= want=; run;
There may be easier ways.
It may be that this is not what you really want. Remember, you are only shifting text over since the length of a character variable is fixed.
You may be better served by the COMPBL function.
WIth all that in mind, here is a way to approach what you asked for:
data want;
set have;
blanks=0;
if string > ' ' then do i=1 to length(string) until (blanks=2);
if substr(string, i, 1)=' ' then blanks + 1;
end;
if blanks=2 then string = substr(string, 1, i-1) || substr(string, i+1);
run;
I also tried looking at CALL SCAN, but didn't find an approach that seemed like it would work.
Given the string
AsBsCssD
where s is a space, do you want
AsBCssD (second space of the string removed)
or
AsBsCsD (double space replaced by single space) ?
What does "2nd space" mean? The 2nd occurence of a space or just don't have consecutive spaces?
For "not consecutive spaces" I'd use function "compbl()"
data _null_; x='xxx yyy zzz'; call scan(x,3,p,l,' '); want=substr(x,1,p-2)||substr(x,p); put x= want=; run;
Are you ready for the spotlight? We're accepting content ideas for SAS Innovate 2025 to be held May 6-9 in Orlando, FL. The call is open until September 25. Read more here about why you should contribute and what is in it for you!
Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value.
Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel.