Hi All!
I am very new to regex - I am currently busy with an introductory course. But I have a problem where the regex works when I use it in a grep command, but when I translate it into SAS it doesn't work. Please don't leaugh at the very basic example lol, I have attached the input file and here is my code (extracting all lines that contains exactly 3 digits):
Grep command (returns the correct 3 lines):
grep -E '^[0-9]{3}$' regex18.txt
SAS code (returns 0 rows):
proc import file='/sas/batch/sasdata/users/heididt/regex/ExerciseInputFiles/regex18.txt' out=example replace;
getnames=NO;datarow=1;
run;
data example;
length var2 $8.;
set example;
var2=left(put(var1,8.));
run;
data example_out;
set example;
if prxmatch('/^[0-9]{3}$/',var2);
run;
SAS only has fixed length character variables.
So your test find find 3 digits will not work since instead of three digits you have 3 digits followed by 5 spaces.
You should be able to just add a TRIM() function call.
if prxmatch('/^[0-9]{3}$/',trim(var2));
SAS only has fixed length character variables.
So your test find find 3 digits will not work since instead of three digits you have 3 digits followed by 5 spaces.
You should be able to just add a TRIM() function call.
if prxmatch('/^[0-9]{3}$/',trim(var2));
EXCELLENT - thanks so much!
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.