date variable

[Amalik]

Hi,

I have following data;

permno	date
1	1/31/2008
2	1/31/2008
3	1/31/2008
1	2/29/2008
2	2/29/2008
3	2/29/2008

I am using following code,

data tmp1.firstandlastdates;
set tmp1.finaluse(keep=permno date);
by permno; /*finaluse is always sorted by permno date*/
retain firstdate;
date=intnx('month', date, 1)-1;
if first.permno then firstdate=date;
if last.permno then do;
lastdate=date;
output;
end;
run;

The results I am getting is in this form;

permno	date	firstdate	lastdate
1	1/31/2008	17562	17562
2	1/31/2008	17562	17562
3	1/31/2008	17562	17562
1	2/29/2008	17562	17562
2	2/29/2008	17562	17562
3	2/29/2008	17562	17562

As you can see, the first and lastdates are not in date format but rather in some other form. What can be causing this?

[Reeza]

They are dates you haven't applied a format yet. 

SAS stores dates as the number of days from January 1, 1960. 

Add a FORMAT statement to apply formats to your dates and they'll show up as desired.

format firstdate yymmddd10. lastdate date9.;

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@Amalik wrote:

Hi,

I have following data;

permno	date
1	1/31/2008
2	1/31/2008
3	1/31/2008
1	2/29/2008
2	2/29/2008
3	2/29/2008

I am using following code,

data tmp1.firstandlastdates;
set tmp1.finaluse(keep=permno date);
by permno; /*finaluse is always sorted by permno date*/
retain firstdate;
date=intnx('month', date, 1)-1;
if first.permno then firstdate=date;
if last.permno then do;
lastdate=date;
output;
end;
run;

The results I am getting is in this form;

permno	date	firstdate	lastdate
1	1/31/2008	17562	17562
2	1/31/2008	17562	17562
3	1/31/2008	17562	17562
1	2/29/2008	17562	17562
2	2/29/2008	17562	17562
3	2/29/2008	17562	17562

As you can see, the first and lastdates are not in date format but rather in some other form. What can be causing this?

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