Date:         Fri, 27 Jul 2001 08:54:23 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike Rhoads <RHOADSM1@WESTAT.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mike Rhoads <RHOADSM1@WESTAT.COM>
Subject:      Re: RXPARSE, RXMATCH : storing pattern matches in sas variables
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

A "little birdie" has confirmed what Richard DeVenezia and I posted
yesterday -- the "variables" created in RXPARSE pattern expressions are used
only within the expression and have no connection to DATA step variables.
Thus, in Richard Patterson's original example, you cannot extract company
name from an e-mail address simply by putting something like
CompanyName=<^'@.'*> into your pattern.

Some thought is being given to adding this functionality in a future version
of SAS.  One question that comes up is whether all or only some of the
RX-variables should become DATA step variables, and how to control this.  I
suggested the following:

OPTIONS RXVAREXPORT = NONE | ALL | NAMED;

NONE is self-explanatory, and should be the installation default so current
programs don't break (by suddenly acquiring unexpected variables).  ALL
would export all of the RX variables, whether the pattern was named or not,
using the _1, _2 convention for unnamed patterns.  NAMED would only export
variables that are explicitly named (which is what I would normally prefer).

Other ideas are more than welcome!

Mike Rhoads
Westat
RhoadsM1@Westat.com