topic Re: Convert Character Date to Numeric in SAS Data Management

Convert Character Date to Numeric

AshJuri — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:56:09 GMT

Hi everyone, I am trying to convert a date variable that is stored as a character variable into a numeric variable. However, the date variable is in the format "02 AUG 2017". I want the result outputted as a new date variable that is numeric.

data want;
  set have;
  date=input(character_date,date10.);
  format date date10.;
run;

Nothing that I have tried has worked. I would appreciate any assistance. Thank you in advance.

Re: Convert Character Date to Numeric

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:01:59 GMT

Count the number of characters in your string, including the blanks, and you will see that you need to read 11 characters.

Therefore this works:

data want;
character_date = '02 aug 2017';
date=input(character_date,date11.);
format date date9.;
run;

Re: Convert Character Date to Numeric

ballardw — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:05:22 GMT

And if your data is a bit sloppy about consistent lengths you may want a different informat with more flexibility.

data want;
	character_date = '02 aug 2017';
	date=input(character_date,anydtdte.);
	format date date9.;
run;

The Anydtdte format by default allows more characters and will read some fairly messy dates but caution is needed if you have two-digit years at the start of your date.