topic Re: not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ? in SAS Programming

not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ?

tianerhu — Wed, 26 May 2021 10:50:30 GMT

data work.family;
infile datalines;
input relation $ first_name $ birthdate mmddyy8.;
datalines;
son Frank 01/31/89
daughter June 12-25-87
brother Samuel 01/17/51
;
proc print data = work.family;
*format birthdate mmddyy10.;
run;

The answer tells that the colon must be added. But , I get the perfect output without it , why?

Re: not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ?

WarrenKuhfeld — Wed, 26 May 2021 11:22:36 GMT

The spaces in the raw data are significant. Try again with the spacing exactly as stated in the problem.

Re: not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ?

CarmineVerrell — Wed, 26 May 2021 11:30:58 GMT

The difference you are seeing is because you did not use the exact datalines. If you look closely you will see that in the second line of the datalines there are spaces in front of the birthdate value. Try including the extra spaces and you will see that the code will not execute properly without the colon.

Re: not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ?

tianerhu — Wed, 26 May 2021 12:08:13 GMT

Thank you for your help.

Re: not add the colon, but the output is correct .why ?

tianerhu — Wed, 26 May 2021 12:08:46 GMT

Thank you very much.