how to create data using macros

[BrahmanandaRao]

Hi  Guys,

How to create date macro for below date 

date='12-01-2023'    (dd-mm-yyyy) format

/*i tried this way is it correct ? or any other method is there like using %sysfunc and putN and  inputN functions please suggest */


%let input_date = 12-01-2023;
%put &input_date;

[Kurt_Bremser]

1. What is your source?
2. What will you do later with the macro variable?

[BrahmanandaRao]

it is interview question 

how to create a macro variable for date input -'12-01-2023' ?

[Kurt_Bremser]

If that is the whole wording of the question, you have already answered it, because all you need is the simple %LET.

Please post the whole, exact wording of the question, if there's more to it.

[Tom]

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@BrahmanandaRao wrote:

it is interview question 

how to create a macro variable for date input -'12-01-2023' ?

---

So first tell the interviewer that macro variables just contain text strings and the meaning of those strings is determined by how you use them.  Also ask what is the source of value to place in the macro variable.

If the goal is to use that value to generate code in pass thru SQL then perhaps it might make some since to store a quoted string in MM-DD-YYYY (or is that DD-MM-YYYY) style, if that is the syntax that the remoted database being queried uses.

But if the goal is to use the value in SAS code to represent a date then you should either set the macro variable to a date literal such as 

%let date='01DEC2023'd;
%let date="01DEC2023"d;
%let date='01-DEC-2023'd;
%let date="1-dec-2023"d;
etc.

Or just to the actual number of days since 1960 that SAS uses to store dates.

The other question is what is the source of the date? Why 12-01-2023 and not some other date?  If it is user input then just tell the user to type in the value in the agreed style.  If the goal is to generate the macro variable from date calculations then the only tricky thing about generating that particular style of quoted string would be if you were required to use the single quotes instead of double quotes (as many database systems syntax requires because they would treat double quotes as indicating an object NAME instead of date or string constant).  That can be tricky if you want to generate the string in pure macro code as the macro processor ignores macro code that is enclosed in single quotes instead of double quotes.  In that case %BQUOTE() is your friend.

For example if you wanted to set the macro variable DATE to first day of the last month of the current year and store the value in that MDY order with single quotes you might use this type of code in SAS macro code.

%let date=%sysfunc(today());
%let date=%sysfunc(intnx(year,&date,0,e));
%let date=%sysfunc(intnx(month,&date,0,e),mmddyyd10.);
%let date=%bquote('&date');

Get today's date (leave it a simple digit string representing the number of days since 1960).

Find the last day of the year.

Find the first day of the month, and store it in the style generated by the MMDDYYD10 format.

Add quotes around the value.

You might want to also add a call to %UNQUOTE() to remove the macro quoting added by the %BQUOTE() function.

Note if you know you always want 12-01 then just hard code it and skip the more complex date manipulation.

%let date=%bquote('12-01-%sysfunc(date(),year4.)');

[PaigeMiller]

Does the actual interview question provide even the slightest bit of context? Please tell us how will this be used. Can you share with us the FULL question on the interview?

Without context, your answer is as good as anyone else's answer.

By the way, since this question is for an interview, I point out that your original post talked about macros, but you have not created a macro at all. You have created a macro variable, which is different than a macro. It would be beneficial for you to know the difference. In addition, I think it would also be good for you to know that both macros and macro variables create TEXT. They do not create data.