Can I convert a string "date" into a real date variable?

[WalterC]

I am trying to set up a report with the input dates always today and 1 week back. I am able to get these macro variables into the correct form as strings, but when I go to try to use them in a sql query (below) the fact that they are strings causes an error. I have thought about just using a data step and changing the format in the datastep, but for this particular query a datastep takes forever. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

73 %let end_date_value =%sysfunc(today());
74 %put &end_date_value;
18003
75
76 %let start_date_value = %eval(&end_date_value-7);
77 %put &start_date_value;
17996
78
79 %let start_date = %sysfunc(putn(&start_date_value, date9.));
80 %put &start_date;
09APR2009
81
82 %let end_date = %sysfunc(putn(&end_date_value, date9.));
83 %put &end_date;
16APR2009


proc sql;
create table P as
select *

from table as rt
where date >= &start_date
and date <= &end_date

;
quit;

[sbb]

Explore using SAS data literals where the string is surrounded in double-quotes and suffixed with a "D" character, telling SAS that the character literal is to be interpreted as a DATE. Or depending on the format (if not ddmmmyyyy or ddmmmyy format) you could also use the SAS INPUT function to read up a character string and let SAS covert it to a SAS numeric variable (internall represented as days since 1/1/1960).

Have a look at the SAS support http://support.sas.com/ website and use the SEARCH facility to look for the phrase Working with Dates - you will find several DOCUMENTATION links and supplemental technical/conference papers referenced.

Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.

[WalterC]

Thanks! I didn't know about using the double quoted literals. Previously when I used the single quotes the macro wouldn't be evaluated. The double quotes seem to fix the problem if I use the %str function.