sorting by date

[SR11]

I used previously proc sort statement by Date in a similar type of data. And it worked. 

But now, I want to sort my new data by date. But the code is not working. 

Data I have: 

ID    Med   Date

1      A        7/8/2016

1      B        9/8/2019

1      F        10/11/2014

2      R        7/6/2015

2      E        6/8/2011

3      F        12/25/2012

3      F        11/10/2018

3      G        12/18/2010

4      B         4/5/2016

Data I want: 

ID    Med   Date

3      G        12/18/2010

2      E        6/8/2011

3      F        12/25/2012

1      F        10/11/2014

2      R        7/6/2015

4      B         4/5/2016

1      A        7/8/2016

3      F        11/10/2018

1      B        9/8/2019

Thank you for your time. 

[SASKiwi]

@SR11  - Check the type of variable Date is. If it is character then sorting will not be in chronological order. You need to ensure Date is stored as a numeric to sort correctly.

[SR11]

Could you please tell me how can I check that?

[SASKiwi]

Run this code for your dataset (replace MyDatasetName with your one) and it will tell you the type of your variables:

proc contents data = MyDatasetName;
run;

[SR11]

Thanks for the code. 

Yes, this is a character variable. Could you please tell me how can I change it to a numerical variable? or any other way to sort the data by date? 

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

@SR11  - you should convert the character date to a proper SAS date using the INPUT function:

Date_Num = input(date, mmddyy10.);
format Date_Num mmddyy10.;

[SR11]

Thank you very much. it worked. 

[ballardw]

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/Working-with-Dates-and-Times-in-SAS-Tutorial/... has a PDF with much information about dates.

[SR11]

Thank you for sharing this information.