Date will not change to Character

[Q1983]

data have;
x='2018-10-01 00:00:00:00';
y=input(x,anydtdtm.);

z=datepart(y);
put z;
format z YYMMDDN8.;
zz=put(z,YYMMDDN8.);
run;

In this example zz is converted to a character from a date format.  In my actual data when I use the above routine it stays as a date.  It will not change from a date to a character.  Is there some other way to convert from date to character?

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

If you want a character date there is no need to convert it to a SAS date:

data have;
  x = '2018-10-01 00:00:00:00';
  zz = compress(substr(x, 1, 10), '-');
  put _all_;
run;

[ballardw]

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@Q1983 wrote: Is there some other way to convert from date to character?

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Once a variable type is assigned to a variable name in a SAS data set then the type cannot change. If you want to reuse the variable name with a new type then you basically rename the old variable to something else (or drop from the data set) and the create a new variable of the desired name.

You will find lots of examples on the forum related to fixing proc import created inconsistent variable types that look something like this:

data new;
   set old (rename=(thisvar=oldnumvar);
   thisvar = put(oldnumvar,z15.);
run;

The format changes, or sometimes an INPUT function is called with an old character variable to create numeric.

There might follow a call to Proc Datasets to delete the prior dataset "old" and rename "new" to "old" to reuse the same data set name.