TRIM Function

Arguments

argument

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression.

Length of Returned Variable

In a DATA step, if the TRIM function returns a value to a variable that has not previously been assigned a length, then that variable is given the length of the argument.

The Basics

TRIM copies a character argument, removes trailing blanks, and returns the trimmed argument as a result. If the argument is blank, TRIM returns one blank. TRIM is useful for concatenating because concatenation does not remove trailing blanks.

Assigning the results of TRIM to a variable does not affect the length of the receiving variable. If the trimmed value is shorter than the length of the receiving variable, SAS pads the value with new blanks as it assigns it to the variable.

The TRIM and TRIMN functions are similar. TRIM returns one blank for a blank string. TRIMN returns a string with a length of zero for a blank string.

Example 1: Removing Trailing Blanks

These statements and this data line produce these results:

data test;
   input part1 $ 1-10 part2 $ 11-20;
   hasblank=part1||part2;
   noblank=trim(part1)||part2;
   put hasblank;
   put noblank;
   datalines;

----+----1----+----2

apple     sauce

apple     sauce

applesauce

Example 2: Concatenating a Blank Character Expression

x="A"||trim(" ")||"B"; put x;

  A B

x="    "; y=">"||trim(x)||"<"; put y;

   > <

Copyright © 2011 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.