return observation by finding a character within a sentence

[lillymaginta]

I want to return any observation that contains the word "med" in any place in a variable

id   desc

1   one medication at a time

2   two medication at a time

3   none 

output 

1 

2

[novinosrin]

data have;
input ID   desc & $30. ;
cards;
1   one medication at a time
2   two medication at a time
3   none    
;

data want;
set have;
if find(desc,'med')>0;
run;

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

If I may be so bold as to suggest an improvement to the code

if find(desc,'med','i')>0;

This finds the letters med regardless of whether they are uppercase or lowercase.

[novinosrin]

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@PaigeMiller wrote:

If I may be so bold as to suggest an improvement to the code

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Of course stat champ sir. i always am in awe of your quantitative acumen on stats domain. Fall qtr starts tomorrow as PCA, logistic will go full throttle.Will reach out for guidance and help on that thread https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Statistical-Procedures/Requesting-guidance-for-Principal-componen.... 🙂 have a great evening

[lillymaginta]

Thank you, the upper/lower case addition is much needed! 

[ChrisNZ]

> I want to return any observation that contains the word "med" in any place in a variable

"med" is not a word in your example, just a substring. "medication" is a word.

Looking for words is different than looking for strings. Be careful and exact when phrasing your questions.

[s_lassen]

Another possibility is to use a WHERE clause. May be faster:

data want;
  set have;
  where desc like '%med%';
run;

Or, if you want both upper and lowercase:

data want;
  set have;
  where upcase(desc) like '%MED%';
run;