which modifier to use for COUNTW function not to count missing values as 1

[knveraraju91]

Dear,

In my program, the  COUNTW function counts words as 1 when the values are missing. How to avoid. Please suggest. i am getting    dtf='M' when date is missing.

output needed

id   date                    dtf

1 2018-08-29            
2 2018-08                 D           
3 2018                      M
4

output getting

id   date                    dtf

1 2018-08-29            
2 2018-08                 D           
3 2018                      M
4                               M

data one;
input id date $10.;
datalines;
1 2018-08-29
2 2018-08
3 2018
4
;

data two;
set one;
dtf=choosec(countw(date, "-"),"M", "D", " ");
 aaa=countw(date, "-");
 run;

[novinosrin]

HI @knveraraju91  You can use the T modifier for countw to count missings as 0. 

 aaa=countw(date, "-",'t');

[Tom]

You could just switch to using COUNTC() to count the number of hyphens.