topic Re: Character variable to Date variable in SAS Procedures

Character variable to Date variable

VD — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 13:43:14 GMT

Hello,

I have a character variable (DateVar) which I want to convert to date.

data have;

DateVar='November 2014';

run;

The output dataset should also show the value of DateVar as November 2014 but as a date variable.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Re: Character variable to Date variable

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 14:06:30 GMT

I'd split the string with SCAN and then use the FINDW function to determine the month out of a reference string.

I doubt that a single format could be made that handles the display in one step. You may have to create a separate character variable for display (or keep the original column).

Re: Character variable to Date variable

Steelers_In_DC — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 14:27:23 GMT

If you need the display to look like this I would keep this column as your display, you can use substr() to cut up the format and then go with the MONYY. format for any calculations that need done.

Re: Character variable to Date variable

Steelers_In_DC — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 14:34:05 GMT

data have;

DateVar='November 2014';

run;

data prep;

set have;

month = substr(datevar,1,3);

year = scan(datevar,2,' ');

run;

data want;

format new_date monyy7.;

set prep;

new_date = input(put(trim(month)||trim(year),$char7.),monyy7.);

run;

Re: Character variable to Date variable

VD — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:54:12 GMT

Thank you, all.