From Numeric to Character

[IGK22]

Hello, there is a problem with converting variables.

I got date variable "rand1" that is character and has date format(ddyymm10.) and represents as 10JUN2014(example)

I need to create new variable "rand2" and make a numeric representation of "rand1" ex - 14686(i think it's a days from 1 Jan 1960 date9. type). So, the simple code as 

 rand2 = input(rand2, 8. or date9. or whatever) makes this error 

NOTE: Invalid argument to function INPUT

Why? I don't know. There is no more errors.

Thanks in advance. 

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

It should be: rand2 = input(rand, date9.);

Note that you need to name the variables different, you cannot use the same name AND if the data is wrong for some reason you'll still get that error, ie 31Sep2018 will generate an error.

[novinosrin]

Your subject lines says numeric to character but you seem to be doing character to numeric with input reading non standard data

data want;
char='10JUN2014';
num_date=input(char,date9.);
*format num_date date9.;
run;