Convert each of the fields to a number: sasdate=mdy(input(left(CALL_MONTH),2.),input(left(CALL_DAY),2.),input(left(CALL_YEAR),4.)); If the columns are no wider than the numbers then you don't need the left function. ... View more

data NEW; set OLD; sasdate=mdy(CALL_MONTH,CALL_DAY,CALL_YEAR); format sasdate mmddyyD10.; run; ... View more

NewVar = mdy(monthvar,dayvar,yearvar); format Newvar mmddyyd10.; ... View more

Are the distinct values you expect to see only green and red, hot or cold? if so: if index(var1,"green")>0 then do;      var1 = 'green'; var2 = 'hot'; end; else if index(var1,"red")>0then do;      var1 = 'red; var2 = 'cold'; end; ... proc sort data=... nodupkey; by id1 id2; run; ... View more

In your current approach, you are converting a date(&pbd_date) to a string (&M).  You are then trying to convert this date back to a string before performing calculations.  You can greatly simplify the process if you use the original date . data _null_;   call symput('m',put(&pbd_date,yymmdd10.));   call symput('curr_month1', put(intnx('month',(&pbd_date,-     1,'e'),yymmdd10.); call symput('prev_month1', put(intnx('month',(&pbd_date,-2,'e'),yymmdd10.); run; The reason this works is because &m is not an actual date, but rather a string.  If you want to stay with your previous approach, you can do that using an informat:  input(&m,yymmdd10.). ... View more

Use the intnx function to return the same day of the previous month: intnx('month',datevar,-1,'s'). SAS designed this very intelligently for month's with 31 days.  In the event that the previous month does not have as many days, it will default to the end of the month.  So running this with a current date of 3/29/2014 would return 2/28/2014 as the same day from the previous month. Then, rather than build your own string, just use the date11 format: data _null_;                 dd = day(today());                pd = intnx('month',dd,-1,'s');               CALL SYMPUT('bur_str_m1', "'"||put(pd,date11.)||"'");    run; ... View more

If you right click on the icon that opens the program, and select properties, you can look for the full target that the program opens under.  If you were to add the following option it will change the work folder location, and x commands will default to this location as well. -work "C:\temp" ... View more

You can reference all of the holiday dates by created a macro variable that contains all of the dates. proc sql noprint; select distinct hol_date format=5. into :hol_list separated by ',' from EMEA_holidays_2014; quit; You can then look in the list with: IF WEEKDAY(DATEPART(ORD_ENTRY_DATE)) NOT IN (1,7) & ORD_ENTRY_DATE not in (&hol_list) then c='made'; else c='miss'; ... View more

You are precisely right.  Because of how numbers are displayed, we often forget that it is stored as a floating decimal.  This is easy to address. match = index (Field_B, trim(left(put(Field_A,best.)))) > 0; By using an expression, it will return a 1 if true, 0 if false.  So you don't even need an else statement. ... View more