SCAN:  PROC(IN_STRING,N,DELIMITERS) RETURNS(CHAR(*) VARYING);

/* PROCEDURE SCANS IN_STRING FOR N-TH WORD USING DELIMITER SET.
   UNLIKE THE SAS SCAN FUNCTION DELIMITERS APPEARING TOGETHER
   ARE TREATED AS SEPARATE DELIMITERS.
   AUTHOR:  AL JAWORSKI
   DATE:    MARCH 2, 1981 */

%INCLUDE LOP;
DCL (IN_STRING,DELIMITERS) CHAR(*) VARYING;
DCL TMP_STRING CHAR(LENGTH(IN_STRING)) VARYING BASED(P);
DCL TOKEN CHAR(LENGTH(IN_STRING)) VARYING BASED(Q);
DCL (P,Q) POINTER;
DCL (I,N) FIXED BINARY(31);
DCL BREAK CHAR(1) VARYING;

IF N<=0|IN_STRING='' THEN RETURN('');

ALLOC TMP_STRING SET(P);
TMP_STRING=IN_STRING;
ALLOC TOKEN SET(Q);

DO I=1 TO N;
  TOKEN=LOP(TMP_STRING,DELIMITERS,BREAK);
END;
RETURN(TOKEN);

END SCAN;