Date:         Wed, 12 Jul 2000 12:50:44 -0700
Reply-To:     Cassell.David@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "David L. Cassell" <Cassell.David@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: Help with using the RX character string functions
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Laura,
I have to agree with Charles here.  [Not that I don't agree with his opinions
normally!]  The SAS RX____ functions are not the most convenient functions
ever devised by SAS.  If you are interested in string-matching algorithms,
there are many which do not use regular expressions at all.  SAS has a
soundex() function, as well as a spedis() function.  You could code up
the metaphone [or the newly-released "double-metaphone"] in a data step.
None of these use regular expressions.

When I want to do something which really requires regular expressions because
of intricacies unavailable or incredibly awkward with ordinary string functions,
I
almost always forsake SAS for a high-speed regex engine with *standard* regex
syntax [instead of the mess which SAS adopted].  I use Perl, or else a
Perl-style
regex library in a similar language [like C or Python].  If you truly need
high-end
regular expression features, a pure SAS system may not be the optimal solution.

David
--
David Cassell, OAO Corp.                           Cassell.David@epa.gov
Senior computing specialist
mathematical statistician