Language Reference

Character String Matching Functions and Subroutines

CALL PRXCHANGE performs a pattern matching substitution
CALL PRXDEBUG enables Perl regular expressions in a DATA step to send debug output to the SAS log
CALL PRXFREE frees unneeded memory that was allocated for a Perl regular expression
PRXMATCH searches for a pattern match and returns the position at which the pattern is found
CALL PRXNEXT returns the position and length of a substring that matches a pattern and iterates over multiple matches within one string
PRXPAREN returns the last bracket match for which there is a match in a pattern
PRXPARSE compiles a Perl regular expression that can be used for pattern matching of a character value
CALL PRXPOSN returns the start position and length for a capture buffer
CALL PRXSUBSTR returns the position and length of a substring that matches a pattern

Last updated: July 20, 2026