Removing * from numbers column

[geneshackman]

Hi all

My data set has a column of numbers. Some numbers in the column have *, so for example

1
2​
4*
3
2*
5*
2

How do i remove *?

Thanks

Gene

[Reeza]

Assuming the data set is in SAS and the column is character, use the COMPRESS() function to remove the *.

Also assuming you would like that value as numeric, you can nest it with an INPUT function as well. 

num_var = input(compress(original_var, '*'), 8.);

Documentation on compress function.

May be worth taking a look at the k and d modifiers if you have more than one character to remove. 

---

@geneshackman wrote:

Hi all

My data set has a column of numbers. Some numbers in the column have *, so for example

1
2​
4*
3
2*
5*
2

How do i remove *?

Thanks

Gene

---

[geneshackman]

Hi Reeza.  Thanks for responding. My only concern was that the character I'm removing is the asterisk, "*". I wasn't sure whether SAS would read it as a wild card and remove everything.

[Reeza]

* is only a wildcard in certain functions/usages, not all. But in that case you could also look at the k/d modifiers suggested which avoids listing the * entirely.

[ballardw]

My question with data like this would be "what does the the asterisk represent?" If there is some meaning that may be needed at a later date perhaps you need some approach other than just removing it.

[geneshackman]

In this case, i can remove * from the numbers column, because i have another column explaining the meaning. So i don't need *.