topic Re: Help with PROC FORMAT in New SAS User

Help with PROC FORMAT

amng — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:42:01 GMT

Hi, I've recently downloaded a public data set for analysis, and they have some data in MMYYYY format. I would like to be able to use this data to understand the number of people that have received a service in the last 12 months. I think I need SAS to recognize the six numbers as a date, but am unsure how to do that.

It seems like I'll have to use proc format to create a format to do that - I've scoured the other message boards, but haven't found the exact answer to my problem.

Help appreciated!

Re: Help with PROC FORMAT

PaigeMiller — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:57:44 GMT

Is the variable that contains MMYYYY character or numeric?

You won't need PROC FORMAT, but I do need answer to the above question to know how to proceed.

Re: Help with PROC FORMAT

amng — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 19:02:16 GMT

Thanks for responding! The variable is numeric.

Re: Help with PROC FORMAT

PaigeMiller — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 19:14:18 GMT

Create a new variable that is an actual SAS date value. Then finding out how long it has been since the last service is easy mathematically.

data want;
    set have;
    sasdate=input(put(date,6.),yymmn6.);
    format sasdate date7.;
run;

Then you could subtract this date from the date of the last service, if the number is > 365, then no service in the last 12 months.

Re: Help with PROC FORMAT

unison — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 20:15:55 GMT

Adding onto @PaigeMiller 's response: you can take advantage of the INTNX function for the last part to avoid any issues with leap-years, etc. Assuming today is the comparison date for "within the last 12 months" and no future observations:

if intnx("month",sasdate,12,"s") ge today();

if intnx("year",sasdate,1,"s") ge today();

Bringing the service date of the observation forward 12 months (or 1 year), is it greater than or equal to today's date?

Re: Help with PROC FORMAT

amng — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 14:38:44 GMT

Thanks! This was really helpful.