| Pratap Kunwar |
Regular expressions (RegEx) offer a powerful way to find, extract, and manipulate text patterns—going far beyond what
standard SAS® character functions can do. This session is designed for beginner and intermediate SAS users who want
to build confidence and skill in applying RegEx to real-world programming challenges.
We’ll start with the
fundamentals, introducing key concepts like character classes, metacharacters, and quantifiers. From there, we’ll explore
how to build and use regular expressions for tasks such as validating formats, cleaning messy strings, and performing
advanced search-and-replace operations.
Through step-by-step examples, you’ll see how RegEx can simplify code,
reduce manual text handling, and solve problems that would otherwise require complex logic. You’ll also learn tips for
troubleshooting patterns and writing expressions that are both powerful and readable.
By the end of the session, you’ll
have the tools to start using regular expressions confidently in your SAS programs—and transferable knowledge that
applies to other languages like Python, Perl, and JavaScript. |