Replaces character value contents
Category: Character
SUBSTR ( variable, position <, length >)= characters -to-replace
variable
specifies a character variable.
position
specifies a numeric expression that is the beginning character position.
length
specifies a numeric expression that is the length of the substring that will be replaced .
Restriction: length cannot be larger than the length of the expression that remains in variable after position .
Tip: If you omit length , SAS uses all of the characters on the right side of the assignment statement to replace the values of variable .
characters-to-replace
specifies a character expression that will replace the contents of variable .
Tip: Enclose a literal string of characters in quotation marks.
If you use an undeclared variable, it will be assigned a default length of 8 when the SUBSTR function is compiled.
When you use the SUBSTR function on the left side of an assignment statement, SAS replaces the value of variable with the expression on the right side. SUBSTR replaces length characters starting at the character that you specify in position .
SAS Statements | Results |
---|---|
a='KIDNAP'; substr(a,1,3)='CAT'; put a; | CATNAP |
b=a; substr(b,4)='TY'; put b; | CATTY |
Function:
'SUBSTR (right of =) Function' on page 838