Convert from Character to Time MM:SS

[ccaudillo100]

Hello, 

A portion of my current table looks like this:

U

:00:00

:00:08

:00:00

:00:13

:00:00

:00:11

:00:04

and in SAS U is considered Character. I am needing to switch it to numeric with the exact same information. So doing

Time = (U*1)

is not working. Any advice on how to get to the result is appreciated. 

Thank you!

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

You must create a new variable:

data want;
set have (rename=(u=_u));
u = input("00" !! _u,time8.);
format u mmss5.;
drop _u;
run;

[Reeza]

Is that value truncated? It looks like it's missing leading 00 with the colon at the front?

[ccaudillo100]

This is exactly how I get the export from the source, So I am unsure what happens with it before it gets to me. But I know that it stands for minutes and seconds

[Kurt_Bremser]

In which form do you get your data? Already as a SAS dataset, as a text file, Excel, or through a connection with a database?