attributing a rank to each modality starting with same word

[alex_philby]

Hello everyone,

I have a table sorted by alphabetical order who looks like this :

felony

drugs consumer

drugs seller

drugs trafficker

murder in the first degree

murder in the second degree

sex offender

sex worker

And what I'd like is to create a variable attributing a rank for each felony starting with the same word. Something like this :

felony	rank
drugs consumer	1
drugs seller	2
drugs trafficker	3
murder in the first degree	1
murder in the second degree	2
sex offender	1
sex worker	2

Any help on this ?

My final goal is to study if people tend to chose the first propositions when they have to pick an answer in a list in case of autocomplete text filled questions.

Please excuse my english.

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Try this:

data have;
input felony $50.;
cards;
drugs consumer
drugs seller
drugs trafficker
murder in the first degree
murder in the second degree
sex offender
sex worker
;
run;

data have1;
set have;
first_word = scan(felony,1);
run;

data want;
set have1;
by first_word; /* add nostsorted if necessary */
if first.first_word
then rank = 1;
else rank + 1;
run;