%If statement using dates

[nicolasb]

Hi there!

I'm stuck with the following code (simplified version): 

%macro testing(data);

%IF &data. <= '31MAY2014'd %THEN %DO;
%put 1;
%IF '31MAY2014'd  < &data. <= '31DEC2014'd %THEN %DO;
%put 2;
%IF '31DEC2014'd  < &data. <= '30APR2016'd %THEN %DO;
%put 3;

%mend;

%testing('30JUN2015'd);

Ideally, the code should print a '3' in the log, but it prints a 1. 

I have tried with datepart() and different time formats. I need to run different macros depending on the date, but I'm not able to evaluate whether a date is within a range. 

Could someone help?

Thanks in advance. 

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

You're three steps away from having working code.

First, macro language doesn't compare dates.  At least not by default.  It compares character strings.

Second, a series of comparisons doesn't work the same way in macro language as it does in a DATA step.

Third, you need an %END statement for each %DO.  (Those probably got dropped when simplifying the example.)

All of that can be fixed.  Here's the sort of statements that would work:

%if %sysevalf(&data. <= '31MAY2014'd) %then %put 1;

%else %if %sysevalf('31MAY2014'd < &data) and %sysevalf(&data <= '31DEC2014'd) %then %put 2;

[nicolasb]

It worked! Thank you very much!

[Tom]

By default SAS uses the %EVAL() macro function in %IF, %WHILE and %UNTIL clauses.  That function can only handle integer comparisons.  It does not handle date literals (or floating point arithmetic).

Use %SYSEVALF() to evaluate values that use date literals.

Also macro code will not convert A<B<C into (A<B) and (B<C) like SAS code will.  Instead if will evaluate A<B to either 0 or 1 and then test if that is <C. 

[nicolasb]

Thanks a lot!! It worked with the %SYSEVALF()