I want the date format as a string for two purposes...  1. for part of the name of a filename 2. the db I am eventually writing into contains a column that is a string that holds a date in that format.    all this aside, I don't understand why that warning is happening and how to fix the code so that it works.  ... View more

Sorry, yes. I want to use a character format. ... View more

Hello,   Thank you for replying. The single quotes was the results of me flailing to figure out something that would work. So are the double &.   Here is the original code that throws the same warnings:   LIBNAME TESTS '/disk1/sand/SAS/workdir' ; options mprint symbolgen; data TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS0; call symput('curr_dt',put(today(),yymmddn8.)); call symput('curr_date', put("&curr_dt&",8.)); call symput('prev_dt',put(today()-1,yymmddn8.)); call symput('prev_date', put("&prev_dt&",8.)); curr_dt = put(today(),yymmddn8.); curr_date = put("&curr_dt&",8.); prev_dt = put(today() - 1,yymmddn8.); prev_date = put("&prev_dt&",8.); run; %put &=curr_dt ; %put &=curr_date ; %put &=prev_date ; %put &=prev_dt ; data TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS1; set TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS0; length dt_num 8; length dt_str $ 10; dt_num = &curr_dt; dt_str = '&curr_date&.'; output; dt_num = &prev_dt; dt_str = '&prev_date&.'; output; if &curr_dt > &prev_dt then output; run; data TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS2; set TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS1; where dt_num = &curr_dt; run;   ... View more

Thanks for your help.   Here is the log: SYMBOLGEN: && resolves to &. WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference CURR_DT not resolved. 9 call symputx('prev_dt',put(today()-1,yymmddn8.),'G'); 2 The SAS System 17:08 Monday, December 13, 2021 10 call symput('prev_date', put("&&prev_dt&",8.)); SYMBOLGEN: && resolves to &. WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference PREV_DT not resolved. 11 12 curr_dt = put(today(),yymmddn8.); 13 curr_date = put("&&curr_dt&",8.); SYMBOLGEN: && resolves to &. WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference CURR_DT not resolved. 14 prev_dt = put(today() - 1,yymmddn8.); 15 prev_date = put("&&prev_dt&",8.); SYMBOLGEN: && resolves to &. WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference PREV_DT not resolved. 16 run; NOTE: The data set TESTS.SYMPUT_001_DS0 has 1 observations and 4 variables. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.00 seconds cpu time 0.00 seconds SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CURR_DT resolves to 20211213 17 18 %put &=curr_dt ; CURR_DT=20211213 19 %put &=curr_date ; SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CURR_DATE resolves to &curr_dt SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable CURR_DT resolves to 20211213 CURR_DATE=20211213 20 %put &=prev_date ; SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable PREV_DATE resolves to &prev_dt SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable PREV_DT resolves to 20211212 PREV_DATE=20211212 21 %put &=prev_dt ; SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable PREV_DT resolves to 20211212 PREV_DT=20211212     I am thrown off (well, by a a lot things, but specifically) by the upper/lower case in the WARNING while the code has lower case.   ... View more