topic Determining number of months between two date columns in SAS Programming

Determining number of months between two date columns

mreynaud — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:10:06 GMT

Hello,

I am attempting to determine the months between many observations between two columns: assign_date and completed_date in SAS EG

From other forums I read it looked like the used the intck function, however, it does not work for me.

I noticed in most of the examples they used the intck function for two specific dates, not dates in columns. Perhaps that's why I am having errors?

proc print data=work.'test'n;
var  assign_date due_date;
intck('month', assign_date, completed_date);
run;

Re: Determining number of months between two date columns

ChrisNZ — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:38:10 GMT

You need to assign the value to a variable.

MTHS = intck('month', ASSIGN_DATE, COMPLETED_DATE);

Re: Determining number of months between two date columns

japelin — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:40:53 GMT

Since you can't use the intck function in the proc step, I think you should first calculate the value in the data step and then output it in the proc print.

Re: Determining number of months between two date columns

mkeintz — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 01:55:47 GMT

You've got the right function, but ...

PROC PRINT will only print variables that already exist in a data set. It will not print a function derived from other variables. You will have to create a new variable in DATA step creating a new data set. Then print variables from that data set.

data new;
  set test;
  nmonths=intck('month',assign_date,completed_date);
run;
proc print data=new;
  var assign_date completed_date nmonths;
run;

Re: Determining number of months between two date columns

Astounding — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 03:27:47 GMT

Whenever you use INTCK, you have to decide what it is you want to count. If the dates represent 01/31/2021 and 02/02/2021, do you want to count that as 1 month? If so, INTCK is correct (once you follow the suggestions that have been made).

Re: Determining number of months between two date columns

andreas_lds — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 06:36:15 GMT

@Astounding wrote:

Whenever you use INTCK, you have to decide what it is you want to count. If the dates represent 01/31/2021 and 02/02/2021, do you want to count that as 1 month? If so, INTCK is correct (once you follow the suggestions that have been made).

Setting the fourth parameter of intck to "C" (=continuous) should return 0 in such cases.