insert spaces between characters every third position

[Marcellllo]

Hello all,

I've got a dataset (a) with the following characters:

211221222223215
133122111
822823
811811811823883884
215

I now want to create a space between after every third position. So the new dataset (b) would be like:

211 221 222 223 215
133 122 111
822 823
811 811 811 823 883 884
215

(the actual list is about 5000 observations)

I have tried the prxchange function and something with an array, but its not working.

Hopefully you have some ideas wich i can try?

Thanks in advance

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Use a do loop and substr():

data have;
input string :$30.;
cards;
211221222223215
133122111
822823
811811811823883884
215
;
run;

data want (rename=(newstring=string));
set have;
i = 1;
length newstring $30;
do until (i > length(string));
  newstring = catx(' ',newstring,substr(string,i,3));
  i + 3;
end;
drop i string;
run;

[Marcellllo]

It works

Thanks a lot!

[Ksharp]

data have;
input string :$30.;
want=prxchange('s/(\d\d\d)/$1 /',-1,string);
cards;
211221222223215
133122111
822823
811811811823883884
215
;
run;
proc print;run;