for x in the code above, using  x=strip(x) may be a better option

如果只是想去除字符串开头的空格的话，建议用strip()  或left().

15   data test;
16       x="  aaa     bbb hahaha";
17       x1=compress(x);
18       x2=left(x);
19       put x1=;
20       put x2=;
21   run;
x1=aaabbbhahaha
x2=aaa     bbb hahaha