comparing date

[alepage]

Hello,

I have two datasets.  In the first one, the var date1 as the date format 23dec2020 while in the other dataset, the date2 as the following date format : 2020-12-23 (yyyy-mm-dd).  

How can I bring back both to numerical value ex; 22272 in order to compare both dataset.

Regards,

[PaigeMiller]

According to PROC CONTENTS, is date1 character or numeric? According to PROC CONTENTS, is date2 character or numeric?

[alepage]

it seems that they are both numeric but not using the same format

[PaigeMiller]

For numeric variables, format doesn't matter when you compare variables.

if date1<date2 then ... ;

works regardless of format. Formats just change the appearance, they don't affect the actual date values.

[alepage]

data test;
date = '23dec2020'd;
date2=2020-12-23;/*yyyy-mm-dd*/
if date1 eq date2 then
do;
flag=1;
end;
else
do;
flag=0;
end;
run;

[alepage]

data test;
date1 = '23dec2020'd;
date2=2020-12-23;/*yyyy-mm-dd*/
if date1 eq date2 then
do;
flag=1;
end;
else
do;
flag=0;
end;
run;

The flag value should gives one...

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

Date2 is not a SAS date value, nor is it formatted as YYYY-MM-DD.

Date2 is 2020 minus 12 minus 23, which is ... well you do the math.

If you want Date 2 to be a SAS date value, you should use this:

date2=input('2020-12-23',yymmdd10.);