Use of SUBSTR with INDEX function

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The syntax for substr function is:
SUBSTR(string, starting position, <length>)
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It is easy to determine the starting position or the length of the string (if it contains DATE).
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For example:
day=substr(date,1,2);

but the same substr function is not applicable if the string contains NAME. The reason is that the length of each name varies from one observation to the other. Hence the use of delimiters (like: "." ",") can be used to locate the position within the string.
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Below is an example for the use of substr with index function:
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*** INDEX IS USED TO FIND WHERE TO BEGIN & END A SUBSTRING ***;
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data fullname;
length fname lname $20;
set nameds;
fname= substr(name, 1, index(name, ',') - 1);
lname = trim(left(substr(name, index(name, ',') + 1)));
run;
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Output:
name----------------------- fname---- lname
SOMA, SUNDARAM---- SOMA---- SUNDARAM
SHIVA, SHEKARAN---- SHIVA---- SHEKARAN
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