SUBPAD Function

Returns a substring that has a length that you specify, using blank padding if necessary.

Category:	Character
Restriction:	This function is assigned an I18N Level 2 status, and is designed for use with SBCS, DBCS, and MBCS (UTF8). For more information, see Internationalization Compatibility.

Table of Contents

Syntax

SUBPAD(string, position <, length>)

Required Arguments

string

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression.

position

is a positive integer that specifies the position of the first character in the substring.

Optional Argument

length

is a nonnegative integer that specifies the length of the substring. If you do not specify length, the SUBPAD function returns the substring that extends from the position that you specify to the end of the string.

Details

In a DATA step, if the SUBPAD function returns a value to a variable that has not previously been assigned a length, then that variable is given a length of 200 bytes.

If the substring that you specify extends beyond the length of the string, the result is padded with blanks.

Comparisons

The SUBPAD function is similar to the SUBSTR function except for the following differences:

If the value of length in SUBPAD is zero, SUBPAD returns a zero-length string. If the value of length in SUBSTR is zero, SUBSTR
- writes a note to the log stating that the third argument is invalid
- sets _ERROR_=1
- returns the substring that extends from the position that you specified to the end of the string.
If the substring that you specify extends past the end of the string, SUBPAD pads the result with blanks to yield the length that you requested. If the substring that you specify extends past the end of the string, SUBSTR
- writes a note to the log stating that the third argument is invalid
- sets _ERROR_=1
- returns the substring that extends from the position that you specified to the end of the string.