topic Re: Converting a number into date in SAS Programming

Converting a number into date

AnandSahu — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:50:01 GMT

Hi All,

Can we convert a number into a sas date for example I have a number i.e. 375 want to calculate a date on this given day without using format.

Regards

Anand

Re: Converting a number into date

RW9 — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:00:50 GMT

Really depends. What does 375 mean? Is it days since Jan2014, minutes since midday??

Re: Converting a number into date

AnandSahu — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:53:27 GMT

This is just a number. Actually it was asked in an interview to me. I told them by using format, a can be converted by this number but they marked my answer as incorrect. So that is why I am approaching this community whether in actual a number can be converted in to date without using a format or informat statement.

Re: Converting a number into date

RW9 — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:04:46 GMT

Well, if you look at the documentation around SAS storage of dates/times you will see that they are indeed a number, dates for example are the number of days since January 1, 1960. So if we assume that the 375 is a date, then we would need to do 01JAN1960 + 375 days = 10JAN1961. You can check this with the small bit of code below. Not sure why the format was a fail, maybe because you didn't explain the underlying mechanics?

data temp;

attrib d1 d2 format=date9. d3 format=best.;

d1='01JAN1960'd;

d2=intnx('day',d1,375,'same');

d3=375;

format d3 date9.;

run;