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Functions and CALL Routines

SUBSTR (left of =) Function



Replaces character value contents.
Category: Character
Restriction: I18N Level 0
Tip: DBCS equivalent functions are KSUBSTR and KSUBSTRB in SAS National Language Support (NLS): Reference Guide.

Syntax
Arguments
Details
Examples
See Also

Syntax

SUBSTR(variable, position<,length>)=characters-to-replace


Arguments

variable

specifies a character variable.

position

specifies a numeric constant, variable, or expression that is the beginning character position.

length

specifies a numeric constant, variable, or expression that is the length of the substring that will be replaced.

Restriction: length cannot be larger than the length of the expression that remains in variable after position.
Tip: If you omit length, SAS uses all of the characters on the right side of the assignment statement to replace the values of variable.
characters-to-replace

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression that will replace the contents of variable.

Tip: Enclose a literal string of characters in quotation marks.

Details

If you use an undeclared variable, it will be assigned a default length of 8 when the SUBSTR function is compiled.

When you use the SUBSTR function on the left side of an assignment statement, SAS replaces the value of variable with the expression on the right side. SUBSTR replaces length characters starting at the character that you specify in position.


Examples

SAS Statements Results
a='KIDNAP';
substr(a,1,3)='CAT';
put a;
 

CATNAP
b=a;
substr(b,4)='TY';
put b;
 

CATTY


See Also

Function:

SUBSTR (right of =) Function

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