LENGTHC Function

Returns the length of a character string, including trailing blanks.

Category:	Character
Restriction:	I18N Level 2 functions are designed for use with SBCS, DBCS, and MBCS (UTF8).

Syntax

LENGTHC(string)

Required Argument

string

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression.

Details

The LENGTHC function returns the number of characters, both blanks and non-blanks, in string. If string is a numeric constant, variable or expression (either initialized or uninitialized), SAS automatically converts the numeric value to a right-justified character string by using the BEST12. format. In this case, LENGTHC returns a value of 12 and writes a note in the SAS log stating that the numeric values have been converted to character values.

Comparisons

The LENGTHC function returns the length of a character string, including trailing blanks, whereas the LENGTH and LENGTHN functions return the length of a character string, excluding trailing blanks. LENGTHC always returns a value that is greater than or equal to the value of LENGTHN.
The LENGTHC function returns the length of a character string, including trailing blanks, whereas the LENGTHM function returns the amount of memory in bytes that is allocated for a character string. For fixed-length character strings, LENGTHC and LENGTHM always return the same value. For varying-length character strings, LENGTHC always returns a value that is less than or equal to the value returned by LENGTHM.

Example

The following SAS statements produce these results.

SAS Statement	Result
x=lengthc('variable with trailing blanks '); put x;	32
length fixed $35; fixed='variable with trailing blanks '; x=lengthc(fixed); put x;	35