Functions and CALL Routines |
Category: | Search |
Syntax | |
Arguments | |
Details | |
Examples | |
See Also |
Syntax |
WHICHC(string, value-1 <, value-2, ...>) |
is a character constant, variable, or expression that specifies the value to search for.
is a character constant, variable, or expression that specifies the value to be searched.
Details |
The WHICHC function searches the second and subsequent arguments for a value that is equal to the first argument, and returns the index of the first matching value.
If string is missing, then WHICHC returns a missing value. Otherwise, WHICHC compares the value of string with value-1, value-2, and so on, in sequence. If argument value-i equals string, then WHICHC returns the positive integer i. If string does not equal any subsequent argument, then WHICHC returns 0.
Using WHICHC is useful when the values that are being searched are subject to frequent change. If you need to perform many searches without changing the values that are being searched, using the HASH object is much more efficient.
Examples |
The following example searches the array for the first argument and returns the index of the first matching value.
data _null_; array fruit (*) $12 fruit1-fruit3 ('watermelon' 'apple' 'banana'); x1=whichc('watermelon', of fruit[*]); x2=whichc('banana', of fruit[*]); x3=whichc('orange', of fruit[*]); put x1= / x2= / x3=; run;
SAS writes the following output to the log:
x1=1 x2=3 x3=0
See Also |
Functions: | |||
"The IN Operator in Character Comparisons" in SAS Language Reference: Concepts. | |||
"Using the HASH Object" in SAS Language Reference: Concepts. |
Copyright © 2011 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.