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name prefix and suffix removal SAS

I am looking for a way to remove a list of prefix and suffixes from the name variable

For example

under name I have

Mr. Walter White Jr.

I wish to keep just Walter White

I have list of prefixes and suffixes that I can use a reference

thanks in advance

Solution

  • Use regular expressions with your list to replace them with blank values.

    data have;
    infile datalines dlm='|';
    length name $20.;
    input name$;
    datalines;
Mr. Walter White Jr.
Mrs. Skyler White
Dr. Saul Goodman
Mr. Jesse Pinkman
Mr. Gus Fring
;
run;

data want;
    set have;
    
    name = strip(prxchange('s/(Mr.|Jr|Dr)\.?//', -1, name) );
run;

    Output:

    name
Walter White
Skyler White
Saul Goodman
Jesse Pinkman
Gus Fring