cut an alphanumeric value

[Caro17]

Hey,

my boss wants to know how often he diagnosed a certain disease. That means I have alphanumeric values, e. g. "A12.9". Now I want to cut this value, so that I get in a different column "A12". I have tried several things but it didn't function.

For example I used a data-set with "diag = substr(diagnose,0,3);" however the column keeps empty. I tried also "substr(m.strdiagnose,0,3) as dia" within the select-statement in proc sql and the column keeps empty as well.

What else can I try to solve this problem? Thanx a lot for your help.

I am using SAS Enterprise Guide Version 7.15 HF2.

Caro

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

Its hard to generalize from a single example. Is there always a period in the character string? Do you always want the text to the left of the period?

Try

newstring = scan(oldstring,1,'.');

[Caro17]

Yes, the structure is always the same. And yes, I need the three characters on the left.

[Astounding]

Given that you always want the first three characters, here is a simple way:

data want;
   length newstring $ 3;
   set have;
   newstring = oldstring;
run;

There's only room to store 3 characters in NEWSTRING, so you will end up with the first three.

[Caro17]

I get the result I want with the version from PaigeMiller.

newstring = scan(oldstring,1,'.');

Thanks a lot!

[ed_sas_member]

Hi @Caro17 

Please try this, to begin with the character in first position

diag = substr(diagnose,1,3);

Best,

[Tom]

Position numbers start with 1, not zero.  Just like normal counting.