topic Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ? in SAS Programming

How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 15:53:25 GMT

In my date, date is yyyymmdd (for example 20081023) and I want to convert it to a date format (such as 23/10/2008) and also know which weekday. How can I do that? I read another similar post about converting and tried:

data withdate;
date_new = input(date, yymmdd8.);
format date_new weekdate9. ;
run;

but it doesn't work.

Really appreciate your suggestions!

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

PeterClemmensen — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:00:58 GMT

do like this

data test;
   CharDate="20081023";
   Date=input(CharDate, yymmdd8.);
   format date date9.;
run;

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

jklaverstijn — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:01:10 GMT

How does it not woek? Can you provide us with a log?

If I run your code it does work:

data withdate;
   date = '20081023';
   date_new = input(date, yymmdd8.);
   format date_new weekdate9. ;
   put _all_;
run;

Do note that I gave your variable date a value as per your question. Otherwise I can understand it doesn't work. This is the log from my code:

1          data withdate;
2             date = '20081023';
3             date_new = input(date, yymmdd8.);
4             format date_new weekdate9. ;
5             put _all_;
6          run;

date=20081023 date_new=Thursday _ERROR_=0 _N_=1
NOTE: The data set WORK.WITHDATE has 1 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

If this doesn't clarify things for you please add your log and your desired results.

Hope this helps,

- Jan.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

jklaverstijn — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:03:20 GMT

Ha same answer; we had a mid-air collision. 🙂

Edit: changed colusion to collision. Reading too much newspapers lately 😉

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

novinosrin — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:03:33 GMT

i think you need date_new = input(date, yymmdd10.); instead of yymmdd8.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

PeterClemmensen — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:04:10 GMT

Great minds, you know 😉

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:04:45 GMT

Date is 20081023 so there are 8 spaces. 2008/10/23 would be a yymmdd10.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:06:20 GMT

Yes, 20081023 is only an example. Date is a variable. How can I change the whole variable or create a new variable to have a format of mm/dd/yyyy or show week day?

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

Reeza — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:07:45 GMT

Is your current variable a numeric or character variable and what is the format?

If you're not sure, run a PROC CONTENTS on your data set.

proc contents data=sashelp.class;run;

@mkt_apprentice wrote:
Date is 20081023 so there are 8 spaces. 2008/10/23 would be a yymmdd10.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:10:24 GMT

My log said:
NOTE: Mathematical operations could not be performed at the following places. The results of the
operations have been set to missing values.
Each place is given by: (Number of times) at (Line):(Column).
121608 at 147:13
NOTE: There were 121608 observations read from the data set ORGIN.DATE.
NOTE: The data set ORIGIN.DATE1 has 121608 observations and 356 variables.
NOTE: At least one W.D format was too small for the number to be printed. The decimal may be
shifted by the "BEST" format.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 1.64 seconds
cpu time 0.87 seconds

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:14:11 GMT

It says Date is Num Type, Len 8, Format F8.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

art297 — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:15:43 GMT

Then try:

data want_where_num;
  set have_with_num_date;
  date_new = input(put(date,8.), yymmdd8.);
  format date_new weekdate9. ;
run;

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

Reeza — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:19:43 GMT

Then you have a numeric value that first needs to be converted to a SAS numeric variable.

SAS stores dates as a number, which is the number of days from January 1, 1960. Then to show a formatted value a format is applied.

One of the simplest ways to do this is to convert the number to a character and then read it back in as a date and then apply the format.

So you would use PUT() to convert it to a character and then use INPUT() with the YYMMDD format to read it back in correctly. Then you would apply the format to have it show up the way you want.

@art297 code does exactly that.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

ballardw — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:41:05 GMT

@mkt_apprentice wrote:

but it doesn't work.

Really appreciate your suggestions!

Generic response:

Doesn't work is awful vague.

Are there errors in the log?: Post the code and log in a code box opened with the {i} to maintain formatting of error messages.

No output? Post any log in a code box.

Unexpected output? Provide input data in the form of data step code, the actual results and the expected results. Data should be in the form of a data step. Instructions here: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/How-to-create-a-data-step-version-of-your-dat... will show how to turn an existing SAS data set into data step code that can be pasted into a forum code box using the {i} icon or attached as text to show exactly what you have and that we can test code against.

Note that the highlighted text would have gotten an appropriate answer in one instead of having a back-and-forth about what you actually have to work with.

Instructions here: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/How-to-create-a-data-step-version-of-your-data-AKA-generate/ta-p/258712 will show how to turn an existing SAS data set into data step code that can be pasted into a forum code box using the {i} icon or attached as text to show exactly what you have and that we can test code against.

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:47:56 GMT

Thank you! I not only ran it successfully but also understood the gap in my SAS understanding 🙂

Re: How to convert character format yyyymmdd to a date format ?

mkt_apprentice — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:48:38 GMT

It works! Thanks a lot!