Sort by datetime

[ywon111]

Sorry, this code doesnt work, but trying to sort the datetime variable

data have;
input datetime;
format datetime datetime.;
infile datalines missover;
datalines;
01AUG2022:11:51:35
22JUL2019:11:41:32
22JUL2019:11:50:32
25FEB2015:16:05:39
;
run;

[ywon111]

The usual proc sort doesn't work and it just sorted it by date, didn't take in consideration of the time.

[japelin · Accepted solution]

try this input statement.

input datetime:datetime.;

[ballardw]

That data step as shown will not generate any output data values to sort. Without a proper informat specified the input statement tells SAS to read the values as basic numeric values. But the : occurs as part of the value so is treated as not valid as a number.

586  data have;
587  input datetime;
588  format datetime datetime.;
589  infile datalines missover;
590  datalines;

NOTE: Invalid data for datetime in line 591 1-18.
RULE:      ----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----+----8----+--
591        01AUG2022:11:51:35
datetime=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=1
NOTE: Invalid data for datetime in line 592 1-18.
592        22JUL2019:11:41:32
datetime=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=2
NOTE: Invalid data for datetime in line 593 1-18.
593        22JUL2019:11:50:32
datetime=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=3
NOTE: Invalid data for datetime in line 594 1-18.
594        25FEB2015:16:05:39
datetime=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=4
NOTE: The data set WORK.HAVE has 4 observations and 1 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

If you want the year to appear with 4 digits you need to set a longer than default width for the Datetime format.

data have;
input datetime :datetime.;
format datetime datetime19.;
infile datalines missover;
datalines;
01AUG2022:11:51:35
22JUL2019:11:41:32
22JUL2019:11:50:32
25FEB2015:16:05:39
;
run;