topic Re: Convert character to date in SAS Viya

Convert character to date

ywon111 — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 04:39:41 GMT

I have a Start date variable as a category and want to turn into a date. Have used RemoveChars to remove the strings but how to convert it to a proper date so it can be sorted correctly?

Start date	Want
05/04/2021 (abc)	5/04/2021
05/04/2021 (abc)	5/04/2021

Thanks

Re: Convert character to date

sas_it — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 07:39:47 GMT

Following method can be used to solve the issue :

date_n=input(substr(start_date,1,10),mmyydd10.);

format date_n date9.;

Re: Convert character to date

Astounding — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 11:26:47 GMT

A simpler method:

data want;
   set have;
   want_date = input(start_date, mmdyy10.);
   format want_date mmddyys10.;
run;

Re: Convert character to date

ywon111 — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 04:54:29 GMT

Have used the Substring operator as below but because it's a character the sorting doesn't quite work correctly as dates -

Substring('Start date'n, 1, 10)

Sorry, but I am referring to SAS VA not EG, is there a way to fix in VA?

Thanks

Re: Convert character to date

SASKiwi — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 05:05:57 GMT

It would be better to fix this before it is loaded into VA using the methods already given

Re: Convert character to date

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:46:42 GMT

Data needs to be cleaned before it goes to VA. VA is for analytics, not for ETL.

And date values HAVE to be stored as such when data is imported into SAS.