topic How do I convert a date string without hyphens to a date value in SAS Programming

How do I convert a date string without hyphens to a date value

mhamiltonsmith — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:29:47 GMT

I am trying to convert a date string written without hyphens into a date value. I can do so using the INPUT function if the date is written as "2001-01-01" by calling INPUT("2001-01-01", YYMMDD10.) However, I cannot do the same using YYMMDDN8. or any other format that does not include hyphens.

INPUT("2001-01-01", YYMMDD10.) = 14976 *Correct!

INPUT("20010101", YYMMDDN8.) = 20010101 *Incorrect

INPUT("2001.01.01", YYMMDDP8.) = . *Incorrect

INPUT("2001 01 01", YYMMDDB8.) = . *Incorrect

What am I doing wrong!?

Writing a date with hyphens is causing issues when I write a macro to convert a date string into a date value, so I cannot write the date string that way.

Re: How do I convert a date string without hyphens to a date value

PaigeMiller — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:44:38 GMT

There is no informat YYMMDDN8. or YYMMDDP8. or YYMMDDB8.

data have;
    date_without_hyphens='20010101';
    date_with_hyphens='2001-01-01';
    date_with_periods='2001.01.01';
    date_without_hyphens2=input(date_without_hyphens,yymmdd8.);
    date_with_hypens2=input(date_with_hyphens,yymmdd10.);
    date_with_periods2=input(date_with_periods,yymmdd10.);
run;

Re: How do I convert a date string without hyphens to a date value

Patrick — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 23:49:35 GMT

Informat YYMMDD10. works for all your date patterns.

data demo;
  infile datalines truncover;
  input dt_string $20.;
  format dt_sas date9.;
  dt_sas=input(dt_string,yymmdd10.);
  datalines;
2001-01-01
20010101
2001.01.01
2001 01 01
;

proc print data=demo;
run;

Re: How do I convert a date string without hyphens to a date value

Tom — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 01:48:15 GMT

@Patrick wrote:

Informat YYMMDD10. works for all your date patterns.

data demo;
  infile datalines truncover;
  input dt_string $20.;
  format dt_sas date9.;
  dt_sas=input(dt_string,yymmdd10.);
  datalines;
2001-01-01
20010101
2001.01.01
2001 01 01
;

proc print data=demo;
run;

Exactly. The INPUT() function does not care if the WIDTH you used in the INFORMAT is larger than the LENGTH of the string you are reading.