topic Distance between days in SAS Enterprise Guide

Distance between days

dlansdowne0090 — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 21:02:45 GMT

How can I calculate the days between a given date and dates imported to SAS EG via a csv file - dates in the Date9 format. Is it possible to do this via the query builder?

Re: Distance between days

Reeza — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 21:16:50 GMT

Yes, do a compute field and subtract the dates.

You can specify your date as '01Jan2016'd

It HAS to be specified in this manner.

This assumes that when you imported the data you created a SAS date variable, it has a numeric type and a date format.

Re: Distance between days

Chokin — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 23:21:38 GMT

As above you need to do a compute field

You can use the INTCK Function get the difference between days - i.e

INTCK('Day','01APR2016"D,"06APR2016"D)

The result in this example is 5

Re: Distance between days

TomKari — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 23:53:42 GMT

And you can definitely use intck in the query builder. I don't know why, I just feel more "professional" using it to calculate number of days between two dates. Makes no sense, I know!

Tom

Re: Distance between days

LinusH — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 06:28:12 GMT

@TomKari it definitely looks more advanced 😆

Re: Distance between days

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 07:39:12 GMT

Usage of INTCK will be robust if SAS (ever) changes the internal format of date values.

It is also easier to adjust if datetime values need to be compared, as only 'DAY' needs to be changed to 'DTDAY'.

Re: Distance between days

TomKari — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:34:23 GMT

Thank you Kurt! I now have a reasonable explanation for my OCD-like behaviour!!

Tom

Re: Distance between days

ChrisHemedinger — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 13:04:48 GMT

In addition to the INTCK function -- super robust and flexible, as @TomKari and others point out, there is a simpler (conceptually) DATDIF function. You can add as a Computed Column, Advanced Expression in the Query Builder. Example:

DATDIF(t1.Shipped,t1.Returned,'act/act')

Re: Distance between days

TomKari — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:17:38 GMT

Well, as I always tell people, there's at least twelve ways to do everything in SAS!