Date:         Fri, 3 May 2002 08:00:35 -0400
Reply-To:     Gerhard Hellriegel <ghellrieg@T-ONLINE.DE>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Gerhard Hellriegel <ghellrieg@T-ONLINE.DE>
Subject:      Re: substr and :=

On Fri, 3 May 2002 06:37:38 -0500, Sheila Whitelaw <sw75@BOXFROG.COM> wrote:

>Can someone tell me what's the difference between the following:
>
>substr(code,1,3)='497'
>
>and
>
>code=:'497'
>
>Thanks.


The result should be the same. =: means "starts with...", the same
like "the first 3 chars in code are equal with..."

However the =: should be faster than calling a function, but the function
call leaves more flexibility to you. The part of the string is more
flexible, it can also start at another position and the position parameter
can also be a variable.