topic Re: Convert variable from character to numeric in SAS Programming

Convert variable from character to numeric

liyongkai800 — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 14:31:41 GMT

I have a time time variable exported from excel, and saved as character in SAS.

Time_var

12/13/2018 9:59:37.595 AM

12/13/2018 10:01:17.595 AM

09/06/2018 9:58:21.513 PM

..............

I can't use the input function to convert Time_var to a numeric variable since SAS doesn't recognize the format. Any suggestion how to convert this variable into a numeric variable?

Re: Convert variable from character to numeric

novinosrin — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 14:41:10 GMT

data have;
input datetime $30.;
cards;
12/13/2018 9:59:37.595 AM
12/13/2018 10:01:17.595 AM
09/06/2018 9:58:21.513 PM
;

data want;
set have;
numeric_dt=input(datetime,anydtdtm21.);
format numeric_dt datetime20.;
run;

Re: Convert variable from character to numeric

Tom — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 14:41:50 GMT

What number do you want?
You should be able to use ANYDTDTM informat to convert it to a datetime value (number of seconds since 1960). Or the ANYDTDTE informat to convert it to a date value (number of days since 1960). You could even use the ANYDTTME informat to just pull out the time of day value (number of seconds since midnight). Then attach a display format you like.

Note you might have issues with values like the last one where the order of the month and day of month is not clear from the values. The ANYDT.... informats will use the order associated with your current LOCALE settings. If you want to force SAS to use a particular order then you might want to parse the string first. For example to just get the date value you could use:

us_date = input(scan(time_var,1,' '),mmddyy10.);
uk_date = input(scan(time_var,1,' '),ddmmyy10.);

Re: Convert variable from character to numeric

liyongkai800 — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 15:05:08 GMT

Thanks for the details. Originally I used input(time_var,datetimew.) directly, not anydtdtm... I think that's why it fails to convert. This is the first time I see the anydtdtm informat. Thanks again!