topic Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this? in SAS Programming

Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

Kiteulf — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 15:36:19 GMT

%let dt = Today();
DATA _NULL_;

DCS3YR= put(Intnx('YEAR',&dt,-3,'S'),date9.);
call SYMPUTX('DCS3YR', DCS3YR);

run;

%put &DCS3YR;
%let DCS3YR_d9 =%sysfunc(inputn(&dcs3yr,date9.),date9.);

%put &DCS3YR_d9;

Re: Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

Shmuel — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 15:51:52 GMT

Did you mean:

%let DCS3YR_d9 =%sysfunc(put(inputn(&dcs3yr,date9.)),date9.);

Code was not tested.

Re: Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

ballardw — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 15:52:53 GMT

I would say it depends on what you mean by "reached a date. macro variable". Or what you expect for result. You don't say what you want or expect.

You have created text in the date9 appearance. With points for a complicated way of duplicating:

%let DCS3YR_d9= &DCS3YR ;

If you expect to manipulate "dates" using macro language it much better NOT to format the values.

Re: Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 16:11:58 GMT

Whenever you need a date value for calculations or comparisons, it is much better to not format the macro variable in any way. See this:

%let cutoff = %sysfunc(intnx(year,%sysfunc(today()),-3,s));

data want;
set have;
where date > &cutoff.;
run;

Formatted values in macro variables are only needed if you use the macro variable for display, e.g. in a TITLE statement.

Re: Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

ballardw — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 16:46:49 GMT

@Kurt_Bremser wrote:

Formatted values in macro variables are only needed if you use the macro variable for display, e.g. in a TITLE statement.

Or to match an external file name for input/output rules.

Re: Have I reached a date9. macro variable with this?

Tom — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 17:25:52 GMT

Macro variables are just strings. You have made two macro variables with the same 9 characters.

If you have a macro variable with a value that the DATE informat understands then you can use as a date literal in your code by adding quotes and the letter d. So here is another convoluted way to make a copy of your DCS3YR macro variable.

%let copy2 = %sysfunc(putn("&dcs3yr"d,date9.));