Permanent Informat

[deleted_user]

Hello,
My questions consists in the utility of a permanent informat in a sas data
set.

I have defined a permanent date informat and then I updated the data set with
dates from
another data set where the same variable is in a different informat. I
expected the update to fail,
because of different informats but it actualy happenned without any problem.

So, my question is (more a theoretical one) is: what are the advantages (if
any)
of defining a permanent informat compared to a temporary informat?
how can i use in future operations this permanent informat in my advantage?

10x,
Marius

[Doc_Duke]

Personally, the only time I have used an INFORMAT that is attached to a SAS data set is when I needed to update the data in place.