jieguo01@yahoo.com (ougya) writes:

+---------------------------------------------------------------- | I used the following code try to generate a string, which has | length of 2. THe ideal results would be a new variable | 'newstring', which combine char1 and char2 (both are character | and have length 1), however, using trim function gives me only | character of char1. Any wrong with my code? +----------------------------------------------------------------

The COMPRESS() function will bring you happiness and joy:

data test(drop=i); length newstring $2; array strings(2) $ char1 char2; do i = 1 to 2; if (strings(i)=' ') then strings(i)='M'; newstring = compress(newstring) || strings(i); end; run;

proc print noobs; run;

Gives you:

newstring char1 char2

MM M M

But why do concatenation? You know exactly where you want to put the character so just pop it in there with SUBSTR():

data test(drop=i); length newstring $2; array strings(2) $ char1 char2; do i = 1 to 2; if (strings(i)=' ') then strings(i)='M'; substr(newstring, i, 1) = strings(i); end; run;

-- Bob Burnham bburnham@dartmouth.edu http://www.dartmouth.edu/~bburnham