reading date

[pawandh]

 data test;

input name $ 13. subj gender date date9.;

datalines;

john   kerry  1123   M   01jan2016

jack  adam   1124       F  02mar2015

;

here the program is not able to read the date,but if I use ":" (date:date9.) then it is able to read perfectly.Can you please explain why is it so?

[RahulG]

Refer to this link.

https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat481/node/60