SYSDATE to get first and last day of last year

[Q1983]

I began with the following data _null_ to attempt to get todays date in yymmdd10  (ie '2020-02-16')

DATA _NULL_;

CALL SYMPUTx('DEKEY', "'"|| PUT(INTNX('DAY',&sysdate9,-0,'END'),yymmddd10.) ||"'") ;

RUN;

%put &dekey;

I am attempting to get the first and last day of last year using the sysdate function

(ie '2019-01-01'  and then a separate data _null for '2019-12-31')

[PaigeMiller]

It would be easier using the TODAY() function

data _null_;
    call symputx('begin',intnx('year',today(),0,'b');
    call symputx('end',intnx('year',today(),0,'e');
run;

[novinosrin]

Hi @Q1983  If you are referring to SYSDATE automatic macro variable as a date from today, I am afraid you may get unexpected results as sysdate contains the date on which a SAS job or session began executing and not really today's date.

So if the above seems to make sense, you can use Today() function

DATA _NULL_;

CALL SYMPUTx('last_date',put(intnx('year',today(),-1,'e'),yymmdd10.),'g') ;
CALL SYMPUTx('first_date',put(intnx('year',today(),-1,'b'),yymmdd10.),'g') ;

RUN;

%put &=last_date;
%put &=first_date;
LOG:

1476  %put &=last_date;
LAST_DATE=2019-12-31
1477  %put &=first_date;
FIRST_DATE=2019-01-01

[PaigeMiller]

Comment: it usually is not necessary to format a macro variable, because to make use of it (except in titles or labels), you will have to un-format it later. So just leave it unformatted.

[novinosrin]

Fully agree. I did think of it, and I did un-think of it to offer just what the OP mentioned.  🙂

[Tom]

The is no SYSDATE function. There is a SYSDATE macro variable (But it is much better to use the SYSDATE9 macro variable instead since it has all four digits of the year.) If you want to use the SYSDATE9 macro variable as a date then you need to convert it to an actual date by use date literal syntax.

"&sysdate9"d

Note that SYSDATE9 macro variable is set when your SAS session starts.  If you want the current date then use the DATE() function instead, or its alias TODAY().

If you want to move the first (or last) day of the year use the YEAR interval.(NOTE  It is not necessary to use the DAY interval for dates since they are already stored as a count of days, you can just use math.) 

Or you could just find the YEAR and use MDY() with 1,1 or 12,31 for the M and D .

data _null_;
  now=date();
  first_day = mdy(1,1,year(now));
  last_day= mdy(12,31,year(now));
  call symputx('first_day',quote(put(first_day,yymmdd10.),"'"));
  call symputx('last_day',quote(put(last_day,yymmdd10.),"'"));
run;