Date:         Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:39:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Joe Matise <snoopy369@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Joe Matise <snoopy369@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: parsing text
Comments: To: Tom Abernathy <tom.abernathy@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <201009102029.o8AJmekO006723@malibu.cc.uga.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I agree in this particular instance SCAN is superior.  However, REGEXs are
quite handy for other things.  As Paul/Mikeeeee/etc. would say, the best
tool is the tool that solves the current problem.  :)

-Joe

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Tom Abernathy <tom.abernathy@gmail.com>wrote:

> I am reminded again why have never spent much time learning this regular
> expression stuff.  Most of the problems I deal with are like this example
> where the existing SAS functions are not only more efficient, but easier to
> understand.
>
>  scan(the_source_string,-1,'()')
>
> versus
>
> >       prxparse('/.*?\((.*)\).*/') as prxm,
> >       case when prxmatch(calculated prxm,the_source_string) then
> >       prxposn(calculated prxm , 1, the_source_string ) else ' '
> >        end
>