TRIM Function

Arguments

argument

specifies any SAS character expression.

If the TRIM function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been assigned a length, by default the variable length is determined by the length of the first argument.

TRIM copies a character argument, removes all 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 null string (zero blanks) 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 © 2007 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.