Identify SAS Variable values prefixed / starting with an alphabet...Datastep and SQL methods...

In SAS, Inorder to identify SAS Variables starting with an alphabet one can use the colon modifiers (i.e. =: ‘Alphabet’, >: ‘Alphabet’ and <: lphabet="" span="">) to test for character strings prefixed with the alphabet.

For example...

/*Eg. 3 records starting with J for char variable a1*/

data example;

length a1 a2 a3 a4 $ 10;

input a1 a2 a3 a4;

cards;

Johnson Ketan Mike Kites

John Sawyer Sharon Michael

Joe Kitten Sue Lula

Sharon Michael SAS Doug

Pamela Tiger Woods Peyton;

run;

In a Data step...

/* We can use the : to identify obs for which a1 starts with J */

data finder1;

set example;

if a1=:'J'; /*keep obs whose a1 values start with J*/

run;

In a Proc step...

proc print data=example;

var a:; /*display variables that start with 'a' i.e. a1,a2,a3,a4*/

where a1=:'J';/*keep obs whose a1 values start with J*/

In a SQL step…

However in SQL, the datastep colon modifiers (i.e. =: ‘Alphabet’, >: ‘Alphabet’ and <: lphabet="" span="">‘)  do not work….But fortunately SAS provided string comparison operators as below to achieve similar tasks…

Truncated string comparison operators are used to compare two strings. They differ from conventional comparison operators in that, before executing the comparison, PROC SQL truncates the longer string to be the same length as the shorter string. The truncation is performed internally; neither operand is permanently changed. The following table lists the truncated comparison operators:

Truncated String Comparison Operators
Symbol	Definition	Example
EQT	equal to truncated strings	where Name eqt ‘Aust’;
GTT	greater than truncated strings	where Name gtt ‘Bah’;
LTT	less than truncated strings	where Name ltt ‘An’;
GET	greater than or equal to truncated strings	where Country get ‘United A’;
LET	less than or equal to truncated strings	where Lastname let ‘Smith’;
NET	not equal to truncated strings	where Style net ‘TWO’;

/* The same as above but with eqt comparison operators */

proc sql;

create table finder2 as

select * from example

where a1 eqt 'J'; /*keep obs whose a1 values start with J*/

quit;

Reference
http://support.sas.com/onlinedoc/913/getDoc/en/sqlproc.hlp/a001334118.htm