Date:         Wed, 6 Jul 2005 07:54:52 +0000
Reply-To:     Guido T <cymraeg_erict@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Guido T <cymraeg_erict@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: delete duplicate string within a single variable
In-Reply-To:  <BAY101-F380DE4951758C6A968170ADED90@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

I was a bit too quick with my initial "solution".  The middle compress isn't
needed, compressing out extra spaces isn't a problem.  Also TRANSLATE only
needs a single space to translate to. How many years have I been using
TRANSLATE function?  Sigh...

What it does is compress out of the _DIGITS string (containing the valid
character, in the correct order) the characters from *A* that aren't in the
_DIGITS string.

++ Guido

295  data test(drop=_digits);
296      set xx;
297      retain _digits '0123456789';
298      x = compress(_digits,translate(_digits,' ',a));
299      put a= x=;
300  run;

a=000000000 x=0
a=000110102 x=012
a=420333000 x=0234
a=9800019800001987 x=01789
a=9a8a7a6vvvvvvv0000 x=06789

NOTE: There were 5 observations read from the data set WORK.XX.
NOTE: The data set WORK.TEST has 5 observations and 3 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used:
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds