Basic SAS question

[sarav1981]

Hi all,

I have a piece of SAS code that I have trouble deciphering what it does. The code snippet is given below:

data files;
set file;
if fileref =: '#LN' or fileref =: 'SAS' then delete;
run;

My query is

1. What does '=:' do in the above code?
2. How is it different from the basic 'equal to' operator?

It would be grateful if I can get some detailed explanations on the queries.

Thanks,
Sarav

 

[klaz2002]

Sarav,
This operator is not the 'equal' oper. It is the compare operator. What your code says is the following:
if the var fileref's value has the '#LN' in its first three positions return true, or , if the var fileref has the letters "SAS" in the first 3 positions return true.
Klaz

 

[sarav1981]

Klaz2002,

Thanks a lot for your explanation. I was having a bit of trouble deciphering what it meant in my code and the SAS documentation wudnt help me either.

I have another question to ask. If I need to equate var fileref with '#LN' or 'SAS' which occur in the middle of the var value, do I have only the SUBSTR fn to get to it? Also, Is it possible for me to use something like in SQL. An example is:

proc sql;
create table files as
(select *
from file
where (fileref like '%#LN%' or fileref like '%SAS%');
);
run;

Thanks for your response and looking forward to your answer.

Sarav

 

[klaz2002]

Sarav,
Yes there is a way you can select by that criteria. Use the index() function.
ex.

data files;
  set file;
  if index(fileref,'#LN') gt 0 or
     index(fileref,'SAS') gt 0 then delete;
run;

What this does is return the position of the first occurence in the string. If the search string is not found this function returns a zero.

I Hope that this helps you.
Klaz