Convert numeric Date to Character

[Ronein]

Hello

What is the meaning of "-L" in following code and why do we need it?

I see that I get same result without using "-L"

data example;
   x1=201711;/*Numeric date  201711*/
   x2=put(x1,6.);/*char date  201711*/
   x2_way2=put(x1,6.-L);/*char date  201711*/
run;

[Astounding]

L = Left

It left-hand justifies the six characters returned by the PUT function. You can explore this by adding:

put '*' x2 char6. '*';
put '*' x2_way2 char6. '*';

[Ronein]

Hello

Thank you for the answer.

I still don;t understand .

In both cases(with and without "-L" I see same result  *201711*

Can you show an example when it effect the result?

[Kurt_Bremser]

You don't see a difference because the length of the format matches the number of digits, so there are no leading spaces.

Run this as an example:

data example;
   x1=201711; /*Numeric date  201711*/
   x2=put(x1,8.); /*char date  201711*/
   x2_way2=put(x1,8.-L); /*char date  201711*/
   put '*' x2 char8. '*';
   put '*' x2_way2 char8. '*'; 
run;

[Astounding]

So far so good. Now comes the "explore" part. Try different values for x1, such as 1711 or 20. Other than that, the program can stay the same.