What does the SUBSTR function accomplish?

The SUBSTR function is designed to create a substring from a given string by specifying the starting position and the length of the substring required. This function allows you to retrieve a part of a string, which can be particularly useful for tasks such as data manipulation, formatting, or extracting specific pieces of information from larger text fields.

For example, if you have a string "SAS Programming" and you want to extract "SAS", you could use the SUBSTR function to start at position 1 and specify a length of 3. This capability is crucial when dealing with string data as it allows for targeted extraction of values for analysis, reporting, or further processing.

Combining two strings, replacing parts of a string, or extracting structured data from a CSV file are distinct tasks that involve different functions or mechanisms within SAS, which is why those options do not accurately describe the purpose of the SUBSTR function.