concatenate two variables

[gowtham112]

Hi guys,

I am trying to concatenate two variables(var1 and var2) . Can anyone suggest me how this can be done

var1  var2           Var3

Q1     Q3            Q1,Q3

The final output should be like var3.

Thaks in advance

[LaurieF · Accepted solution]

Fortunately it's the simplest thing in the world. Well, not the simplest thing. But still fairly simple.

data _null_;
var1 = 'Q1';
var2 = 'Q3';
length var3 $ 5;
var3 = catx(',', var1, var2);
put _all_;
run;

catx takes as its first parameter the separator you want, followed by the variables (and there can be many more) you want to concatenate.

It's magic!

(Editor's note: see more details in How to concatenate values in SAS.)

[LaurieF]

I'd just like to add the the variables that are being concatenated are stripped (leading/trailing spaces taken off). In this case it doesn't make any difference, of course - just so that you know.

[ballardw]

As a minor clarification to @LaurieF's fine solution, the LENGTH of the new variable is important and needs to be set to the sum of the lengths of the longest values of Var1 and Var2 plus 1 for the comma. Otherwise you may experience truncation of your values. Note that CATX may tell that you need a longer variable with a message.

data _null_;
   var1 = 'Q123';
   var2 = 'Q345';
   length var3 $ 8;
   var3 = catx(',', var1, var2);
   put _all_;
run;

Will generate:

WARNING: In a call to the CATX function, the buffer allocated for the result was not long enough
         to contain the concatenation of all the arguments. The correct result would contain 9
         characters, but the actual result may either be truncated to 8 character(s) or be
         completely blank, depending on the calling environment. The following note indicates the
         left-most argument that caused truncation.

which tells the minimum length you should set for VAR3

[hmoghul]

Perfect! Thank you LaurieF

[PeterClemmensen]

Like this? 🙂

data have;
   input var1 $ var2 $;
   datalines;
   Q1 Q3
   ;

data want;
   set have;
   var3 = catx(',', var1, var2);
run; 

[mnjtrana]

Same solution as @LaurieF

[LaurieF]

I beat @PeterClemmensen by seconds, i think!