Thank you guys very much for your help! I don’t want to start a new discussion, since it is another question regarding regular expression, wonder if it’s even possible though. Is there a way to identify the word if it’s within let’s say 3-words of distance? I’m going to use the same sample (modified), so the requirement become this: The number wanted has to be a decimal: (\d*\.\d+) Words don’t want to be within 3-words in front or 3-words behind are: ‘ab ht’, ‘ods’. data check; var="Patient ab ht reported .1 headache 1.3f and nausea. MD ods noticed rash."; output; var="ab ht 2.2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. ht usd2.5 od"; output; var="2.5h of ods patient reported seeing spots."; output; var="1.3g Elevated pulse ab ht and 0.6d labored breathing."; output; var="Headache."; output; var="ab ht .3 5 4 .5k Headache ab";output; run; Expected Output: var string Patient ab ht reported .1 headache 1.3f and nausea. MD ods noticed rash. 1.3 ab ht 2.2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. ht usd2.5 od 2.5 2.5h of ods patient reported seeing spots. 1.3g Elevated pulse ab ht and 0.6d labored breathing. Headache. ab ht .3 5 4 .5k Headache ab .5 Thanks! ... View more

Thanks xia keshan. Please see my last post. ... View more

Hi Patrick, Thank you so much! It’s working mostly, but still something is missing. I have to change my sample to suit better of my real data: The number wanted has to be a decimal: (\d*\.\d+) Words don’t want to be in front of the number are ‘abc’, ‘efg’ Letters don’t want to be behind the number are ‘c’, ‘d’ data check; var="Patient reported .1 c headache 1.3f and nausea. MD noticed rash."; output; var="abc2.2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. usd2.5"; output; var="efg2.5h of patient reported seeing spots."; output; var="1.3g Elevated pulse and 0.6d labored breathing."; output; var="Headache."; output; var="abc .3 5 4.5k Headache.";output; run; Expected Output:    var                                                                                                    string Patient reported .1 c headache 1.3f and nausea. MD noticed rash. 1.3 Patientreported.1cheadache1.3fandnausea.MDnoticedrash. abc2.2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. usd2.5 2.5 abc2.2Pt.Rptd.Backache.usd2.5 efg2.5h of patient reported seeing spots. efg2.5hofpatientreportedseeingspots. 1.3g Elevated pulse and 0.6d labored breathing. 1.3 1.3gElevatedpulseand0.6dlaboredbreathing. Headache. Headache. abc .3 5 4.5k Headache. 4.5 abc.3\|54.5kHeadache. ... View more

Thank you, Patrick! Sorry, just one more scenario, for cases like this one below: var="abc h3 4k Headache."; There are 2 valid numbers, I'm ok with if 3 is returned, but not 34, any way to fix? Thanks! ... View more

And what's before and after the number is random, there's not way to specify them. ... View more

I should return this: var                                                                                                      var2 Patient reported 100 c headache 3f and nausea. MD noticed rash. 3 a2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. usd25 25 b25h of patient reported seeing spots. 3g Elevated pulse and 6d labored breathing. 3 Headache. Thanks. ... View more

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you Hai.kuo and xia keshan. The codes both of you provided work only for this sample, won’t work for the other one I gave, which is closer to my real data: data check; var="Patient reported 100 c headache 3f and nausea. MD noticed rash."; output; var="a2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. usd25"; output; var="b25h of patient reported seeing spots."; output; var="3g Elevated pulse and 6d labored breathing."; output; var="Headache."; output; run; As you can see var could have other numbers in it, while I only want those not started with a or b, and not followed with c or d. Is there a way to do it?  ... View more

Ok, thanks, you are right. I expanded it a little to include look behind, now how come JPY100 and JPYbd1100 don't return anything? any idea? data check; var='100 dollars'; output; var='100dollars'; output; var='100 pesos'; output; var='USD100'; output; var='USD 100'; output; var='JPY100'; output; var='JPYbdl100'; output; run; run; data check2; set check; *** create the regular expression only once ***; retain re1; if _N_=1 then do; re1 = prxparse('/(?<!D )\b\d+\b(?! dollars)/'); end; if prxmatch(re1,var) then do; var2 = prxposn(re1,0,var); end; run; proc print data=check2; run; ... View more

Thanks Hai.kuo. boundary seams working for the ones with spaces, will miss the ones without space. any other suggestions? ... View more

Let me give a better example: data check; var="Patient reported 100 c headache 3f and nausea. MD noticed rash."; output; var="a2 Pt. Rptd. Backache. usd25"; output; var="b25h of patient reported seeing spots."; output; var="3g Elevated pulse and 6d labored breathing."; output; var="Headache."; output; run; Yes, trying to get number part of var, but only if it meets the following conditions: What proceeds is not a or b, example a2 or b25 is not wanted. What follows is not c or d, example 100 c or 6d is not wanted. ... View more

I can't specify 100 because it could be any number even decimals. ... View more

Thank you, FriedEgg! ... View more

Hi, is there a way to look around, either ahead or behind, for example, as long as ABC or GHI is in the string, before or after (\bYELLOW|BLK|GREEN\b) return the color? ... View more