topic Re: Date Conversion in SAS Programming

Date Conversion

Sharon421 — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:10:13 GMT

I have a SAS data set with a numeric variable (not date) with values like 20140815. How can I turn this into a SAS date number that I willl eventually want in the format of MMDDYY8. ?

Re: Date Conversion

LinusH — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:22:03 GMT

Use a combination of put() and input() functions.

Re: Date Conversion

Astounding — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:57:34 GMT

More specifically, the conversion would look like this:

newvar = input(put(oldvar,8.), yymmdd8.);

Then apply any date format you would like. Any of these examples (and more) would be possible:

format newvar date9.;

format newvar yymmdd10.;

format newvar mmddyy8.;

format newvar mmddyys10.;

Experiment, till you find a format that you like.

Good luck.

Re: Date Conversion

CharlotteCain — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 18:19:36 GMT

Hi Bob, May i request you to please enlighten me on the differences between applying $w. format and just like 8. format without the dollar sign. Also, does applying an x amount of width caters to values less than the number of bytes in the value?

This confuses me big time:(

Sorry for the bother and merry christmas and happy new year to you,

Charlotte

Re: Date Conversion

Sharon421 — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 19:13:10 GMT

This seems simple on the surface but I could not figure it out. This was a GREAT help.

Re: Date Conversion

Astounding — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 19:42:11 GMT

Charlotte,

The $w formats expect to find character strings as the incoming values. Leave out the dollar sign and the software expects a numeric as the incoming value.

If you specify a width that is wider than the numeric value:

newvar = put(12345678, 10.);

You get a leading blank (or as many leading blanks as needed) to fill out the resulting string. Note that the PUT function always returns a character string regardless of whether the format is numeric or character.

When in doubt, experiment. You can always check your results with something like this:

newvar2 = '*' || newvar || '*';

put newvar2=;

People who are trying to learn are never a bother. Merry Christmas to you as well.