topic convert birthdate to iso8601 format for character variable in SAS Programming

convert birthdate to iso8601 format for character variable

sas1018 — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:03:28 GMT

I have a birth variable in a dataset which is character type. Now I want to convert into is8601da. format. First I created another variable to change the birth variable to numeric and then use the put function to apply the format. I have tried the below code:

birth1=input(birth,anydtdtm20.);
BRTHDTC=put(birth1,is8601da.);

birth variable format in the dataset ::::1988-08-29

I got ********** this for BRTHDTC. What am I doing wrong? Can anybody help me with this.

TIA.

Re: convert birthdate to iso8601 format for character variable

PaigeMiller — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:13:47 GMT

data have;
    birth='1988-08-29';
	birth_numeric=input(birth,anydtdte.);
	format birth_numeric is8601da.;
run;

You can't use informat anydtdtm. because that expects date/time values, and you have only a date value, so you need informat anydtdte.

Re: convert birthdate to iso8601 format for character variable

ballardw — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:44:45 GMT

Here is a useful reference regarding dates, times and datetimes in SAS.

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/Working-with-Dates-and-Times-in-SAS-Tutorial/ta-p/424354 has a PDF with much information about dates.