Hi:
The format only affects the DISPLAY of the date variable -- not the internal storage value of the date variable. So, for example, if I have a date variable called DATE that represents the date 11/15/1950, the INTERNAL, stored number for that date is -3334. DATE is a numeric variable. I can format DATE anyway I want for PROC PRINT or PROC FREQ. But, applying a MONTH format does not affect the internal storage of the number. And, it doesn't turn DATE into a character variable.
So, if I needed to use DATE in an IF statement, these are all acceptable IF statements:
if date = -3334 then x=y;
if date = '15NOV1950'd then x=y;
if month(date) = 11 then x=y;
This last IF statement uses the MONTH function with the DATE variable to return a number from 1 to 12 -- which represents only the MONTH portion of my DATE variable value of -3334.
cynthia
To check out different DATE internal numbers and how a format only DISPLAYs a readable date, test this code by putting your date of interest between the single quotes where I have 15NOV1950 -- note that you absolutely need the quotes and the d -- to tell SAS that you're creating your numeric variable from a DATE constant:
data mydate;
mydate = '15NOV1950'd;
date = mydate;
run;
ods listing;
proc print data=mydate;
title 'what is the internal number for a date';
format DATE mmmddyy10.;
run;
Hi:
The format only affects the DISPLAY of the date variable -- not the internal storage value of the date variable. So, for example, if I have a date variable called DATE that represents the date 11/15/1950, the INTERNAL, stored number for that date is -3334. DATE is a numeric variable. I can format DATE anyway I want for PROC PRINT or PROC FREQ. But, applying a MONTH format does not affect the internal storage of the number. And, it doesn't turn DATE into a character variable.
So, if I needed to use DATE in an IF statement, these are all acceptable IF statements:
if date = -3334 then x=y;
if date = '15NOV1950'd then x=y;
if month(date) = 11 then x=y;
This last IF statement uses the MONTH function with the DATE variable to return a number from 1 to 12 -- which represents only the MONTH portion of my DATE variable value of -3334.
cynthia
To check out different DATE internal numbers and how a format only DISPLAYs a readable date, test this code by putting your date of interest between the single quotes where I have 15NOV1950 -- note that you absolutely need the quotes and the d -- to tell SAS that you're creating your numeric variable from a DATE constant:
data mydate;
mydate = '15NOV1950'd;
date = mydate;
run;
ods listing;
proc print data=mydate;
title 'what is the internal number for a date';
format DATE mmmddyy10.;
run;
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