topic Re: how to convert date in a macro into character in SAS Programming

how to convert date in a macro into character

dyxdyx — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 13:10:47 GMT

I am trying to convert the date variable in a macro into a character variable called "label".

%let date=%qsysfunc(intnx(month, '31Oct2017'd, 2));

But the following gives errors. Any idea how to achieve this?

%let label=%sysfunc(put(&date, date9.));

ERROR: The PUT function referenced in the %SYSFUNC or %QSYSFUNC macro function is not found.

Astounding — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 13:21:01 GMT

%SYSFUNC cannot be used with PUT. You have to switch to PUTN (in this case) or PUTC (in some cases) instead.

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 13:22:03 GMT

The put() function is one of those that are not available in %sysfunc and %qsysfunc.

Use the putn() function instead:

%let date=%sysfunc(intnx(month, '31Oct2017'd, 2));

%let label=%sysfunc(putn(&date,date9.));
%put &label;

or do it in one step:

%let label=%sysfunc(intnx(month, '31Oct2017'd, 2),date9.);

%put &label;