topic Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable in SAS Programming

cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Caro17 — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 04:41:35 GMT

Hey,

I’d like to know how can I ignore the last two months with my data. The variable is a date. For example I have data from 01.01.2013 up to now and I want to see all data except the last two month, that means I want to have the data from 01.01.2013 till 23.04.2020 and I don’t want the data from 24.04.2020 till 24.06.2020 in my results. But what I don’t want to do is to change the „today date“ every time I use this query.

Thanx a lot for your help.

I am using SAS Enterprise Guide Version 7.15 HF2.

Caro

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

ChrisNZ — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:00:20 GMT

Add a where clause.

where DATE < intnx('month', today(), -2, 's');

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Caro17 — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:05:02 GMT

And from where know the system the variables of the two dates?

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

ChrisNZ — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:14:30 GMT

Please rephrase the question, I don't understand.

The today() function give today's date, and in the intnx() function goes back 2 months. Is that clearer?

Look at the documentation for these functions.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:26:16 GMT

See here:

TODAY()

INTNX()

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Caro17 — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:28:08 GMT

Sorry! I mixed it up with another problem. It is clear so far. But now I get a syntax error (ERROR 22-322: syntax error, expect one of the following: !, !!, &, ...) and I don't know why. I have checked the syntax but I can't see a mistake.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:45:40 GMT

@Caro17 wrote:

Sorry! I mixed it up with another problem. It is clear so far. But now I get a syntax error (ERROR 22-322: syntax error, expect one of the following: !, !!, &, ...) and I don't know why. I have checked the syntax but I can't see a mistake.

When you get messages that you can't make sense of, always (and I mean ALWAYS) post the log.

Copy/paste the whole text of the step that caused the message into a window opened with the </> button. This is necessary to keep the formatting, as the log points to the exact position where SAS could no longer make sense of your code.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

ChrisNZ — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:42:09 GMT

>and I don't know why. I have checked the syntax but I can't see a mistake.

How do you expect us to see mistakes in code we don't see?

@Kurt_Bremser's comments are patently sensible.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Caro17 — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:45:00 GMT

@Kurt_Bremser

That's not possible because the data are on another computer. That means I can never (and I mean NEVER) copy and past the log.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:55:10 GMT

If you do not have access to the communities from your "work" computer, then, I am afraid, you will have to retype the log as is (including all spaces!) into the </> window. I know it's tedious, but thank the idiot who forces a newbie to work in an environment where they are cut off from getting help.

As an alternative, I suggest you install SAS University Edition on your "internet" computer and recreate the issues there, so we can easier communicate problems and solutions.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

Patrick — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 06:06:29 GMT

@Caro17 wrote:

@Kurt_Bremser

That's not possible because the data are on another computer. That means I can never (and I mean NEVER) copy and past the log.

I normally get around such situations by sending myself an email or if it's on a remote desktop/Citrix Servers that doesn't allow to copy/paste to my local environment then taking a screenshot from my local environment is normally still possible.

Re: cut off/ignore the last two months regarding a date variable

ChrisNZ — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 06:19:50 GMT

> That means I can never(and I meanNEVER)copy and past the log.
This makes no sense.

How did you see the

ERROR 22-322: syntax error, expect one of the following: !, !!, &, ...)

message?

Using SAS without seeing the log is like driving without seeing through the windshield:

You have the controls, but have no idea they are doing what you hope they are.