--- Ya Huang <ya.huang@AMYLIN.COM> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 12:59:06 -0800, omugeye <bhuta_zegha@YAHOO.COM> > wrote: > > >substr(right(chaV), 10, -1) worked for me with no error. Am running > >version 9.1. > > > >Well, the beauty of SAS is being able to do one thing several > different > >ways. As has been demonstrated here. One of these solutions must > have > >worked for Chadd Webb. Clearly some are more efficient than others. > > Can you explain what exactly '-1' do here? Does it mean to start from > 10th byte and backward extract one byte? Would it result in a single > character? >

Ya,

In version 9.x, a negative length expression has the following consequence (taken straight from the online docs http://support.sas.com/onlinedoc/912/docMainpage.jsp)

If length is zero, a negative value, or larger than the length of the expression that remains in string after position, SAS extracts the remainder of the expression. SAS also sets _ERROR_ to 1 and prints a note to the log indicating that the length argument is invalid.

So, a negative length value is an invalid expression. The substr function sets the _ERROR_ indicator, but otherwise operates as though no length function was specified.

Dale

===== --------------------------------------- Dale McLerran Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center mailto: dmclerra@NO_SPAMfhcrc.org Ph: (206) 667-2926 Fax: (206) 667-5977 ---------------------------------------

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