LENGTH Function

Returns the length of a non-blank character string, excluding trailing blanks, and returns 1 for a blank character string

Category: Character

Syntax

LENGTH ( string )

Arguments

string

• specifies a character constant, variable, or expression.

Details

The LENGTH function returns an integer that represents the position of the rightmost non-blank character in string . If the value of string is blank or missing, LENGTH returns a value of 1. If string is a numeric variable (either initialized or uninitialized ), LENGTH returns a value of 12 and prints a note in the SAS log that the numeric values have been converted to character values.

Comparisons

• The LENGTH and LENGTHN functions return the same value for non-blank character strings. LENGTH returns a value of 1 for blank character strings, whereas LENGTHN returns a value of 0.

• The LENGTH function returns the length of a character string, excluding trailing blanks, whereas the LENGTHC function returns the length of a character string, including trailing blanks. LENGTH always returns a value that is less than or equal to the value returned by LENGTHC.

• The LENGTH function returns the length of a character string, excluding trailing blanks, whereas the LENGTHM function returns the amount of memory in bytes that is allocated for a character string. LENGTH always returns a value that is less than or equal to the value returned by LENGTHM.

Examples

SAS Statements	Results
len=length('ABCDEF'); put len;	6
len2=length(' '); put len2;	1

See Also

Functions:

• 'LENGTHC Function' on page 628

• 'LENGTHM Function' on page 629

• 'LENGTHN Function' on page 631