Try putting quotes around the parantheses bracket. compute cntycode = index(county, "(").

It *should* work.

Later, Judy --- Staffan Lindberg <staffan.lindberg@fhi.se> wrote: > Hi listers ! > > I have a file of counties with a string variable > containing both the county > name and the county code (within parenthesis). I.e: > > Stockholm (0180) > Malmoe (1280) > . > . > . > . > and so on > > I would like to extract the numeric the county code > as a separate numeric > variable. Obviously I cannot use the substring > command alone as the position > of the first digit in the string varies. > > I tried to use the string function INDEX as an > intermediary step. The syntax > is INDEX(haystack,needle). As I understand it the > "needle" can be any > character in the string (=haystack). > > In this case I would search for the first > occurence/position of a left > paranthesis and add 1 to get the starting position > for later use with the > SUBSTRING command > > However, when I try a parenthesis as a "needle" I > get the error that the > parentheses do not match, which of course is true. > Is it possible to somehow > change every occurence of parentheses in the string > variable to some other > character that can be used as a 'needle" ? > > Or maybe there is a simpler solution to this problem > ? > > Thankful for any suggestions > > best > > Staffan Lindberg > National Institute of Public health > Sweden

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