Keep formated DATETIME in a macrovariable

[Hugo_B]

Hello,

I have formated a DATETIME:

DATA _null_;
now = datetime();
format now e8601dt19.;
put now=;
run;

Now I would like to store the formatted date time in a macrovariable as text such that when  I call the following:

%put &DATETIME;

I get:

2019-05-20T12:23:04;

Do you have any idea about how to do that ?

Thank you

[PeterClemmensen · Accepted solution]

One way

DATA _null_;
now = datetime();
format now e8601dt19.;
call symputx('now', put(now, e8601dt19.));
put now=;
run;

%put &now.;

[Kurt_Bremser]

If you want to keep track of the current time at certain points in your log, this is probably the most efficient way:

%put %sysfunc(datetime(),e8601dt19.);