Syntax if variable includes a specific string of text

Question

I was wondering if there was a syntax to select all account names that include a certain string of text.

For example, if I have a SPSS file that has 3 million account names, I'd want to look at only the account names that have a / TKS at the end. The account name could like like Stack Overflow / TKS.

Answer 1

You can use char.index to check whether a string includes a specific substring. So for example:

compute containsTKS=0.
if char.index(account_name,"/ TKS")>0 containsTKS=1.
execute.

You can then use containsTKS to filter or select cases.

Answer 2

The solution eli-k provided checks if / TKS is inside the account_name, at any position. If you want to check if the "/ TKS" text is at the end of your account_name, you need a slightly changed syntax:

compute containsTKS=0.
if char.index(account_name,"/ TKS")=char.len(rtrim(account_name))-5 containsTKS=1.
execute.

Then, as eli-k mentioned, "You can then use containsTKS to filter or select cases."