Simple logic help

[oht]

a Hi ,

For some reason, I got hung on the following simple logic to fill value to a fix lenght without truncation.

DATA TEST;
  RETAIN B ;
  RETAIN LENB 0;
  LENGTH B $10.;
   INPUT A $CHAR4.;

LENA=LENGTH(A);

  B=CATT(B,A);

LENB=LENGTH(B);

DIFF=10-LENB -1;

IF DIFF < 0 THEN DO;
    B=' ' ;
LENB=0;
  END;

DATALINES;
  aaaa
bb
ccc
dd
gggg
F

EE
     HHH 
;

What I am looking for is to fill the space B with A(including space) without truncation so the result should look like

  aaaa bb

ccc  dd

gggg F EE

     HHH

Any idea ? Thanks

[DBailey]

I don't understand your desired output.  Is it that the output can't exceed length 10 so you're having to check to see if adding the next variable would cause it to exceed that length?

[oht]

Yes. We want to fill the string B as much as possible without trunctuion. If the next string do not have enough space to fill in the entire value, then start a new B to continue. The problem of my logic is not working well.

Thanks for your help

[DBailey]

data have;

length str $10.;

input str CHAR10.;

DATALINES;

  aaaa

bb

ccc

dd

gggg

F

EE

     HHH

;

run;

DATA want(keep=tmpStr rename=(tmpStr=Str));

set have end=eof;

length tmpStr $10.;

retain tmpStr '';

if length(tmpStr) + length(str) < 10 then do;

    tmpStr = trim(tmpstr)||' '||trim(str);

    end;

else do;

    output;

    tmpStr=str;

    end;

if eof then output;

run;

produces this

                                                          Obs       Str

                                                           1         aaaa

                                                           2     bb ccc dd

                                                           3     gggg F EE

                                                           4          HHH

: