first time user: need to delete records outside of date range

[mpoletika1]

Hello,

Brand new to SAS. I need to keep records only between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 for the variable "entry_date." The dates look like 2015-07-01 and 2016-06-30 and the format says  YYMMDD10. and the length is 8. Any code suggestions would helpful!

This is what I have right now.

data new;
set input;
if entry_date >= '2015-07-01'd and entry_date <= "2016-06-30" then delete;
run;

Thanks,

Mike

[LaurieF · Accepted solution]

You're almost there, but you've got it the wrong way around.

data new;
set input;
if '1jul2015'd <= entry_date <= '30jun2016'd then
   output;
run;

Note to keep the date range, you want to output, not delete (note that delete removes observations from the output, not the input!)

data new;
set input;
if '1jul2015'd <= entry_date <= '30jun2016'd;
run;

When you've only got one output dataset, the output action is implied.

[novinosrin]

If no further processing or compound expressions involved, filter using "where"

where '01jul2015'd <= entry_date <= '30jun2016'd;

[Reeza]

Your biggest issues is that you're specifying the dates incorrectly. 

In SAS you need to specify a date as a 'date literal' which is using the DATE9 format, wrapping it in quotes and adding a d after wards. 

'01Jan2018'd

This allows SAS to differentiate between a date and a character value. 

As @LaurieF mentioned already, your logic was incorrect as well. 

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@mpoletika1 wrote:

Hello,

Brand new to SAS. I need to keep records only between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 for the variable "entry_date." The dates look like 2015-07-01 and 2016-06-30 and the format says  YYMMDD10. and the length is 8. Any code suggestions would helpful!

This is what I have right now.

data new;
set input;
if entry_date >= '2015-07-01'd and entry_date <= "2016-06-30" then delete;
run;

Thanks,

Mike

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