topic How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window in SAS Procedures

How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

ren2010 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:21:01 GMT

Hi,

I came across this article on "How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window instead of the date and time that the SAS session was started" on Support.sas.com,also there is a sample code:

options nodate;
data _null_;
call symput ('timenow',put (time(),time.));
call symput ('datenow',put (date(),date9.));
run;

title "The current time is &timenow and the date is &datenow";

I am using sas 9.1.3,but when i tried to run this ,i dont see any values displayed,and do not see any error messages in the log.I appreciate if anyone has any idea why this is happening.

Thanks,
Ren

Re: How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

Cynthia_sas — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 15:57:40 GMT

Hi:
Are you following your TITLE statement with a procedure or some process that -uses- a TITLE statement??? Normally, the title statement by itself just changes the title in the SAS "holding area" for titles. You wouldn't see the results of the TITLE statement unless you did this:

options nodate;
data _null_;
call symput ('timenow',put (time(),time.));
call symput ('datenow',put (date(),date9.));
run;

title "The current time is &timenow and the date is &datenow";
ods listing;
proc print data=sashelp.class;
run;

cynthia

Also from @Doc_Duke:

Be aware that the title is somewhat misleading. That method prints the date and time the DATA _NULL_; step was run, not the "current" date and time (It was current then but may not be current when printed.). That doesn't matter much for short jobs, but can be an important difference in definition for ones that run for hours or days. Look at http://support.sas.com/kb/8/682.html for an option that gets "closer" to current.

Re: How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

sbb — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:52:35 GMT

It's not until your next PROC or DATA step execution will reflect the current TITLE declared.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

Re: How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

ren2010 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:10:50 GMT

Thanks Cynthia

Re: How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

ren2010 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:11:14 GMT

Thanks Scott

Re: How to print the current date and time in the SAS Output window

Doc_Duke — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:28:06 GMT

Be aware that the title is somewhat misleading. That method prints the date and time the DATA _NULL_; step was run, not the "current" date and time (It was current then but may not be current when printed.). That doesn't matter much for short jobs, but can be an important difference in definition for ones that run for hours or days. Look at http://support.sas.com/kb/8/682.html for an option that gets "closer" to current.

Doc Muhlbaier
Duke