Subsetting by if

[mona4u]

Hi, 

I'm trying to subset the observations that match the criteria 

by if statement but my code below  doesn't work 

I know I can do it by where statement  but I also want to do it by if 

data new; 
set have; 
if subject_id ne "%999%";
run; 

sample of the data 

subject_id
200018001
200018002
200018003
200018005
200019999
200019999
200028001
200028002
200028005
200029999
200059999
200079999
200089999
200089999
200098001
200098002
200098003
200098004
200099999
200108001
200108002
200108003
200108004
200109999

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Use

if index(subject_id,"999") = 0;

[Reeza]

% is a wildcard in the WHERE statement with the LIKE operator, not an IF statement. 

WHERE statements allow SQL functions, IF statements do not. 

where subject_id like '%999%';

The equiavelnt IF statement would be to use FIND() or INDEX() to search for that string. 

if find('999', employee_id) > 0 ;