Date:         Thu, 3 Aug 2006 04:12:12 +0000
Reply-To:     toby dunn <tobydunn@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         toby dunn <tobydunn@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: SCAN function
Comments: To: KMyers1@CLEARWIRE.NET
In-Reply-To:  <036c01c6b6ad$42f1ad10$6502a8c0@speedy>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

FWIW I know this how most programs create CSV files.  On the otherhand I
havent seen the poster respond to the effect that they are try to read in a
CSV file, only that they have a text string delimited by commas.

As for my Sig I wouldnt worry too much as we all have our own reality
whether we like it or not.



Toby Dunn

Normal People Worry Me!!!!!

I reject your reality and substitue my own!!!





From: Kevin Myers <KMyers1@CLEARWIRE.NET>
Reply-To: Kevin Myers <KMyers1@CLEARWIRE.NET>
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: SCAN function
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 22:31:05 -0500

FWIW, two delimiters stacked next to each other is exactly how most csv
creation programs would create a row that includes a field with a null
(missing) value.  So this problem is pretty common.  Basically, this guy is
trying to read a record from a csv file, and the safest approach is to
simply use the best SAS tool for the job (input statement with DSD and DLM
infile options).

BTW Toby, your new sig file worries me.  People who conceive of alternate
realities don't really strike me as the best types for programming work!  I
hate it when a user swears up and down that in their "reality", they didn't
make some change to their system which produces some kind of malfunction.
When I finally track down the problem to what they actually did, their
"reality" most often gets a serious adjustment...  ;-)

s/KAM


----- Original Message -----
From: "toby dunn" <tobydunn@hotmail.com>
To: <nospam@HOWLES.COM>; <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 10:12 PM
Subject: Re: SCAN function


 > True Howard, but then again I wouldnt expect that one would build a list
 > with delimiters stacked one next to the other with no spaces in between
 > since they would get treated as one delimiter.  I kind of expect posters
to
 > first attempt to solve the problem on their own and at least read the
docs
 > before posting.  Plus give working code that mimics the problem they are
 > trying to solve.
 >
 >
 >
 > Toby Dunn
 >
 > Normal People Worry Me!!!!!
 >
 > I reject your reality and substitue my own!!!
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > From: "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>" <nospam@HOWLES.COM>
 > Reply-To: "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>" <nospam@HOWLES.COM>
 > To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
 > Subject: Re: SCAN function
 > Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 20:13:27 -0400
 >
 > On Wed, 2 Aug 2006 23:41:51 +0000, toby dunn <tobydunn@HOTMAIL.COM>
wrote:
 >
 >  >PoohBear ,
 >  >
 >  >Shouldntmake a difference as the scan function could careless if the
third
 >  >element from the right is missing or not.  In fact I ran your code and
 > came
 >  >up the right answer.
 >  >
 >  >Data _Null_ ;
 >  >
 >  >X = "abc, def, ght, hugdy, bshdgeyrt, 234, 5476, 037199, , 03/12/2006,
 >  >01/07/2007" ;
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >id=scan(x,-4,',');
 >  >
 >  >Put Id= ;
 >  >Run ;
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >Toby Dunn
 >
 > True as long as there are one or more blanks between the commas.
 >
 > Try it with
 >
 >     037199,,
 >
 > and the problem as described occurs.
 >
 > I think there should be a SCANDSD function which would force operation
like
 > DSD does for INFILE.
 >
 >  >
 >  >Normal People Worry Me!!!!!
 >  >
 >  >I reject your reality and substitue my own!!!
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >From: Poohbear <liuberyl@GMAIL.COM>
 >  >Reply-To: Poohbear <liuberyl@GMAIL.COM>
 >  >To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
 >  >Subject: SCAN function
 >  >Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 16:25:12 -0700
 >  >
 >  >Hi All,
 >  >
 >  >I have to use the scan function to get the '-4th' value for a string,
 >  >but sometimes the '-3rd' field of that string is a missing value. For
 >  >example, I have a string like this:
 >  >
 >  >abc, def, ght, hugdy, bshdgeyrt, 234, 5476, 037199, , 03/12/2006,
 >  >01/07/2007
 >  >
 >  >I wanna get the value '037199'. Since I have too many such strings, and
 >  >the number of fileds before the field '037199' are not same for each
 >  >string, so I have to use scan function to scan it from the right to
 >  >left. The problem is, not all strings have missing value for the '-3rd'
 >  >field....
 >  >
 >  >Here is my statement:
 >  >
 >  >id=scan(txt,-4,',');
 >  >
 >  >But it seems it always give me the value of 5476 for the strings have
 >  >missing value for '-3rd' field. Anyone has a clue of how to avoid this?
 >  >
 >  >
 >  >Thanks a lot,
 >  >Pooh
 >