Date:         Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:35:41 -0800
Reply-To:     "Choate, Paul@DDS" <pchoate@DDS.CA.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Choate, Paul@DDS" <pchoate@DDS.CA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: SAS Function
Comments: To: "Bosch, Jules" <jules.bosch@SPCORP.COM>

Jules - Some random thoughts -

In v9 it seems like a perfect use for Perl regular expressions - here are
some SAS.com papers http://xrl.us/d4ru .

Index would work, but only returns the first, so you'd need to successively
substring your text.  Probably simpler would be (if your dates are always
delimited within the strings) scanning the sub-elements through a date
informat (untested):
array date{15};
j=1;
i=1
do (while scan(var,i) ne '');
   if input(scan(var,i),date.) ne . then do;
                date(j)= input(scan(var,i),date.);
                j+1;
                i+1;
end; end;


hth

Paul Choate
DDS Data Extraction
(916) 654-2160

-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Bosch,
Jules
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 7:30 AM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: SAS Function

SAS V8

I have no documentation at the moment but need to read a string seeking date
occurrences (format=ddmmmyy or ddmmmyyyy).  Often there is more than one
date in the string.  I think the INDEXC function should work but don't know
if it will locate each occurrence of an excerpt or just the first.  Any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

TIA,

Jules Bosch


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