Struggle date format from system date to "mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss" format

[niejung]

I couldn't find a good sample to convert the date that I want.   NEED HELP! 

This is the format I want "mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss" 

options tz='America/New_York';  
data NY;
   NY_DT=datetime();  
   format NY_DT  datetime19.; 
	put NY_DT=datetime19.;
run;

42 options tz='America/New_York';
43 data NY;
44 NY_DT=datetime();
2 The SAS System 08:31 Tuesday, July 21, 2020

45 format NY_DT datetime19.;
46 put NY_DT=datetime19.;
47 run;

NY_DT=26JUL2020:13:10:11
NOTE: The data set WORK.NY has 1 observations and 1 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.00 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds

[niejung]

Okay.  I should be more patient before I do more posts.   I got it too work by referring this post (https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/datetime-informat-mm-dd-yyyy-hh-mm-ss-24-hour-time-fo..."  

If anyone who has better or simple way to do the format, please share.  😊

proc format library=work;
picture dtmmddyy (default=19)
low-high = '%0m/%0d/%Y %0H:%0M:%0S' (datatype=datetime)
;
run;
options tz='America/New_York'; 
data current_datetime;

	currentDtTime=datetime();

   x=dhms(today(),0,0,time());
   format x dtmmddyy.;
   put currentDtTime=dtmmddyy.;
run;

[Tom]

You can use PICTURE formats to create many different formats for displaying date, time or datetime in different ways.

But I am curious why you want to use such a confusing format?  If you show dates as numbers in MDY (or DMY) order you will confuse half of your audience and risk misinterpretation of ambiguous values like 10/12/2020 .   

Why not display your dates in YMD order and avoid that issue? 

[ballardw]

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@Tom wrote:

You can use PICTURE formats to create many different formats for displaying date, time or datetime in different ways.

But I am curious why you want to use such a confusing format?  If you show dates as numbers in MDY (or DMY) order you will confuse half of your audience and risk misinterpretation of ambiguous values like 10/12/2020 .   

Why not display your dates in YMD order and avoid that issue? 

---

My guess: That is the Excel / Microsoft datetime default display and OP wants that for familiarity.