Date:         Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:31:22 -0700
Reply-To:     sbarry@SBBWORKS.COM
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Scott Barry <sbarry@SBBWORKS.COM>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      Re: truncate test string?
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
In-Reply-To:  <BAY123-F25779970942FED7537369DE520@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

On Apr 16, 6:01 am, tobyd...@HOTMAIL.COM (toby dunn) wrote:
> Match = ( VarA =: VArB ) ;
>
> The colon modifier truncates the longer the two strings to the length of the
> shorter and then does the compare between variables.
>
> Toby Dunn
>
> You can see a lot by just looking.  ~Yogi Berra
>
> Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.  Seek what they sought.
> ~Matsuo Basho
>
> You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough.
> ~William Blake, Proverbs of Hell
>
> From: celia...@GMAIL.COM
> Reply-To: celia...@GMAIL.COM
> To: S...@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: truncate test string?
> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:17:50 -0700
>
> Hi,
>
> I've got two variable and I want to match them. Then problem is that
> variable A is longer than variable B and only the fisrt 6 characters
> are the same as that in variable B (if there's a match).
>
> Question: how can I truncate variable A to match it with B?
>
> many thanks,
> Celia
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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For the example posed by Toby, the variable Match will yield either a
1 or 0 depending on the expression within the parentheses.

To truncate one SAS variable's value when it matches another, you
would need to use SAS functions SUBSTR, INDEX and LENGTH in a DATA
step along with your two variables.  Give it a try and send back your
code to the group for feedback.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.