Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded

[Cooksam13]

hello,

I am trying to put data in a new format and i keep on getting an error/warning message saying that the format cannot be found

this is my data year looking like 

this is what proc contents shows me 

36263539

Dob	Char	10	$EAR.
bmdob	Num	8	MMDDYY10.		bmdob
hepbdate	Char	10	$10.	$10.	hepbdate
hpdate	Char	10	$EAR.

and then I am trying to convert it to show just a year using this code

data work.vitaldob;
set new.step2;
Dob=put(bcdob,MMDDYYS10. ) ;
	Format dob year. ;
hpdate=put(hepbdate,MMDDYYs10.);
format hpdate year.;

	run;

but I keep on getting this error

72 Format dob year. ;

_____

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded.

73 hpdate=put(hepbdate,MMDDYYs10.);

__________

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $MMDDYYS was not found or could not be loaded.

74 format hpdate year.;

_____

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded.

please help

[Reeza]

data work.vitaldob;
set new.step2;

Dob=bcdob ;
Format dob year. ;

hpdate=input(hepbdate,yymmdd10.);
format hpdate year.;

run;

---

@Cooksam13 wrote:

hello,

I am trying to put data in a new format and i keep on getting an error/warning message saying that the format cannot be found

this is my data year looking like 

this is what proc contents shows me 

36263539

Dob	Char	10	$EAR.
bmdob	Num	8	MMDDYY10.		bmdob
hepbdate	Char	10	$10.	$10.	hepbdate
hpdate	Char	10	$EAR.

and then I am trying to convert it to show just a year using this code

data work.vitaldob;
set new.step2;
Dob=put(bcdob,MMDDYYS10. ) ;
	Format dob year. ;
hpdate=put(hepbdate,MMDDYYs10.);
format hpdate year.;

	run;

but I keep on getting this error

72 Format dob year. ;

_____

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded.

73 hpdate=put(hepbdate,MMDDYYs10.);

__________

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $MMDDYYS was not found or could not be loaded.

74 format hpdate year.;

_____

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded.

please help

---

[Cooksam13]

thanks for this but I still get the same error/warning

69 data work.vitaldob;

70 set new.step2;

71

72 Dob=bcdob ;

73 Format dob year. ;

_____

484

NOTE 484-185: Format $YEAR was not found or could not be loaded.

74

75 hpdate=input(hepbdate,yymmdd10.);

76 format hpdate year.;

77

78 run;

NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).

72:5

[PaigeMiller]

You have a varaible BCDOB, but you don't show that variable in PROC CONTENTS. I assume it must be character, is it, according to PROC CONTENTS?

[Cooksam13]

sorry for this mix up

24

bcdob

Num

8

MMDDYY10.

bcdob

[tarheel13]

why not just use year function? year=year(bcdob). that extracts the year from a SAS date. 

[Cooksam13]

That works for the bcdob but not for hpdate
get this error for the hpdate

NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
73:13
NOTE: Format $MDDYYS was not found or could not be loaded.
NOTE: Invalid numeric data, hepbdate='2010/01/02' , at line 73 column 13.
ID_Person=2010000139 CD_PersonStatus= CD_Gender= AM_FamilySize= DT_Birt

[PaigeMiller]

You are getting these errors because some variables are character. THere are no date or time formats for character variables, and you cannot use date or time functions on character variables. This is why I want to see the ENTIRE output from PROC CONTENTS.

[PaigeMiller]

Okay, show us the ENTIRE output from PROC CONTENTS. Do not select parts to show us and not show us other parts. Make sure you show us the stuff at the top which indicates the name of the data set that you are running PROC CONTENTS on.

[Cooksam13]

proc contents data = work.vitaldob;
run; quit;

# Variable Type Len Format Informat Label36243539

Dob	Char	10	$MDDYYS10.
bcdob	Num	8	MMDDYY10.		bcdob
hepbdate	Char	10	$10.	$10.	hepbdate
hpdate	Num	8

I can only show this information for security reasons 

[Tom]

You already have a DOB variable that is CHAR.  So you cannot make a new one that is numeric.

Either make a NEW variable.

new_dob = year(bcdob);

Or if you are ok with a character DOB variable use PUT() to convert the date in BCDOB into a four digit string with the year value.  And remove that attempt to attach the numeric format to DOB.  There is no need to attach a format to a character variable. SAS already know how to display character string just fine without any special instructions.

dob = put(bcdob,year4.);
format dob;

I suspect that in your attempts at various solutions you have overwritten your input.

Try going back to the original data and starting over.

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Updated answer. Looks like BCBOB is the label for BMBOB which is very confusing. 

data work.vitaldob;
set new.step2;

Dob=bmdob ;
Format dob year. ;

hpdate=input(hepbdate,yymmdd10.);
format hpdate year.;

run;

[ChrisNZ]

Bottom line: This message appears when you try to apply the year. format to a character variable. It can only be used for a numeric variable. Check your data.