yearcutoff problem.

[rajvir]

1)Suppose the YEARCUTOFF= system option is set to 1920. An input file contains the date expression 12/08/1925, which is being read with the MMDDYY8. informat. Which date will appear in your data?

: The answer is 08DEC2019  

I felt the answer would be 08DEC1925 , as 1920-2019 will be range if yearcutoff=1920. 

Experts pls help me out with this problem.

Thanks 

Raj

[Reeza]

Your issue isn't with YEARCUTOFF per se, but with the format.

If it's MMDDYY10 - it uses the whole year. 

But if it's MMDDYY8 - it sees

12/08/19 -> 2019

[rajvir]

the date is 12/08/1925,

[SASKiwi]

Your informat should be MMDDYY10. - the length includes the forward slashes. This is a data truncation problem - you are reading 12/08/19 when you should be reading 12/08/1925. The YEARCUTOFF option is irrelevant in this case as you have the complete date including the century.

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

Just saying the same thing in different words ...

The MMDDYY8 informat means, "Read 8 characters.  Expect them to be in month+day+year form.  Interpret and convert what you find within those 8 characters."

So the data contains 12/08/1925.  But the MMDDYY8 informat specifically instructs the software to read the first 8 of those 10 characters.  It never reads the "25" at the end, only the "12/08/19".

[rajvir]

Thanks now got it 🙂