SAS Component Language Dictionary

LENGTH

Returns the length of a trimmed character string

Category:

Character

Syntax
Details
Examples
	Example 1: Using the LENGTH Function
	Example 2: Using the LENGTH Function with NOTRIM
See Also

Syntax

length=LENGTH(cval,<'NOTRIM' >);

length

contains the length of the trimmed character string.

Type: Numeric

cval

is the character value whose length is to be determined.

Type: Character

'NOTRIM'

specifies that trailing blanks should be counted as part of the string length.

Type: Character

Details

The resulting value is the position of the right-most nonblank character in the specified string cval.

When NOTRIM is specified, LENGTH returns the length of a string, including trailing blanks.

By default, variables automatically remove leading blanks when values are assigned to them. The $CHAR format and informat must be assigned to a variable in order for leading blanks to be considered in determining the length of a variable.

Examples

Example 1: Using the LENGTH Function

Return the length of the character variable S:

length s $ 5;
s='ab ';
l=length(s);
put 'L='l;

This program produces the following output:

L=2

Example 2: Using the LENGTH Function with NOTRIM

Return the length of the character variable S, using the NOTRIM option:

s = 'xy  ';
l = length(s, 'notrim');
put 'L='l;

This program produces the following output:

L=4