BookmarkSubscribeRSS Feed
🔒 This topic is solved and locked. Need further help from the community? Please sign in and ask a new question.
EinarRoed
Pyrite | Level 9

Hello!

We need to remove certain pesky characters from a freetext field we're reading from a source system.

Some of the things we must remove are:

  • Double double quotation marks (""). To be clear: The single character " two times in a row.
  • The carriage return symbol identified as '0D'x in SAS

This doesn't seem to work due to the use of ' in 0D'x:

	do chars_to_remove = '""', '0D'x';
		input_string = tranwrd(input_string, chars_to_remove, '');
	end;

Can you please suggest a good way to handle this?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
LeonidBatkhan
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi EinarRoed,

 

To remove "" use transtrn() function with trimn('') as the 3-rd argument:

 

input_string = transtrn(input_string, '""', trimn(''));

To further remove carriage return symbol along with all control symbols use compress() function with 'c' modifier as the 3-rd argument:

 

input_string = compress(input_string,,'c');

Hope this helps.

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
andreas_lds
Jade | Level 19

Try

tranwrd(input_string, trim(chars_to_remove), ' ');

The tranwrd function will insert a single blank even if you don't want it, switching to transtrn or using compbl will solve that issue.

LeonidBatkhan
Lapis Lazuli | Level 10

Hi EinarRoed,

 

To remove "" use transtrn() function with trimn('') as the 3-rd argument:

 

input_string = transtrn(input_string, '""', trimn(''));

To further remove carriage return symbol along with all control symbols use compress() function with 'c' modifier as the 3-rd argument:

 

input_string = compress(input_string,,'c');

Hope this helps.

hackathon24-white-horiz.png

2025 SAS Hackathon: There is still time!

Good news: We've extended SAS Hackathon registration until Sept. 12, so you still have time to be part of our biggest event yet – our five-year anniversary!

Register Now

How to Concatenate Values

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.

SAS Training: Just a Click Away

 Ready to level-up your skills? Choose your own adventure.

Browse our catalog!

Discussion stats
  • 2 replies
  • 1003 views
  • 3 likes
  • 3 in conversation