using index to clean string variable

[Cruise]

Hi Folks:

I'm trying to use the beginning part of the string variable (i.e., Albany- or Albany(county) or Albany county) until any of these symbols happen as part of the string: '-',  ' ' ,  '('

The code below does the job but too inefficient. 

Is there a way to accomplish this in a single step? 

data TEMP; set census_age1; 
IDNAME1=substr(IDNAME,1,index(IDNAME,'-')-1);
DROP IDNAME; RENAME IDNAME1=IDNAME;   
ID1NAME1=substr(ID1NAME,1,index(ID1NAME,'-')-1);
DROP ID1NAME; RENAME ID1NAME1=ID1NAME; 
RUN;
DATA TEMP1; SET TEMP; 
IDNAME1=substr(IDNAME,1,index(IDNAME,' ')-1);
DROP IDNAME; RENAME IDNAME1=IDNAME;  
RUN;
DATA census_age2; SET TEMP1; 
IDNAME1=substr(IDNAME,1,index(IDNAME,'(')-1);
DROP IDNAME; RENAME IDNAME1=IDNAME; 
run;

[PaigeMiller]

---

@Cruise wrote:

Hi Folks:

I'm trying to use the beginning part of the string variable (i.e., Albany- or Albany(county) or Albany county) until any of these symbols happen as part of the string: '-',  ' ' ,  '('

The code below does the job but too inefficient. 

Is there a way to accomplish this in a single step? 

---

You don't say what the desired output is. You don't provide (a portion of) the input data set. We need those things if we're going to help you.

[unison · Accepted solution]

You can try scan:

data have;
	input idname $20.;
	datalines;
Albany-
Albany(county)
Albany (county)
Albany
;
run;

data want(rename=new_idname=idname);
	set have;
	new_idname=scan(idname, 1, '(- ');
	drop idname;
run;

[Cruise]

Thanks, solved the problem. Sorry for not providing a mock data. Thanks again!