regular expression (prxparse) question

[gzr2mz39]

How would I create a regular expression using prxparse that always starts with x1, ends with y2 and the middle part can be any length (1+) and any characters?

For example, I want:

x1abc_efy2

x12y2

x1a!y2

I don't want:

x2abcy2

x1zy3

Thank you.

[kiranv_ · Accepted solution]

something like below. here ^ means starting position where we have x1 as requirement. .+ indicates any character after the starting position and ? stops reading  once it find any  other character mentioned in regex.  $ means at the last position and here we have y2 as per requirement

 DATA want;  
    IF _N_ = 1 THEN PATTERN_NUM = PRXPARSE("/^x1.+?y2$/");  
 
RETAIN PATTERN_NUM; 
    INPUT STRING $30.;    if PRXMATCH(PATTERN_NUM,trim(STRING))= 1 then output; 
	drop pattern_num;
DATALINES; 
x1abc_efy2
x12y2
x1a!y2
x2abcy2
x1zy3
;

[Astounding]

Looks like the parsing guys are on vacation today.  If it would help, here's a way to do it without parsing:

x1 = index(var, 'x1');

y2 = index(var, 'y2');

if y2 > x1 > 0 then newvar = substr(var, x1, y2 - x1 + 2);