I tried to read the following data into SAS:   A.Jones       1-1-60         9-15-96      18JUN12 R.Grandage 03/18/1988 31-10-2007 5jul2012 K.Kaminaka 052903       2012024     12-MAR-12   data library; infile 'C:\MyRawData\Library.dat' truncover; informat name $10.; informat birthday mmddyy6.; informat issued anydtdte5.; informat returned anydtdte5.; input name $ +1 birthday +1 issueddate + 1 returneddate; format returned date9.; run;   You can see in the informat I defined the length of the dates are way less than the actual date legnth. But SAS is still reading the data fine. Can anyone explain why? Thanks! ... View more

In chapter 2.10 of Little SAS Book. There is an example data file named canoes as follows:   Bellatorum  School: CSULA Time: 1:40.5 The Kraken  School: ASU Time: 1:45.35 Black Widow  School: UoA Time: 1:33.7 Koicrete  School: CSUF Time: 1:40.25 Khaos  School: UNLV  Time: 2:03.45 Max  School: UCSD Time: 1:26.47 Hakuna Matata  School: UCLA Time: 1:20.64 Prospector  School: CPSLO Time: 1:12.08 Andromeda  School: CPP  Time: 1:25.1 Kekoapohaku  School: UHM Time: 1:24.49   The book shows how to read "School" and "Time" use colon modifier, but does not show how to read the entire data file, which should include the first variable: Canoe team's names. I tried it but with no success. I'm having trobule reading the "Hakuna Matata" part. It has a space in between and the delimiter of the data file is space. Can anyone show me how to read the above data file into SAS? Thanks! ... View more

Hi guys. New SAS user here. I need some help regarding reading a DATETIME format variable into SAS.   The datafile's name is "test.txt". The variables are seprated by tab: 24-Jun-2012 03:39:00      79   I used DATETIME format to read the first variable with length 20 as follows: data testing2; infile 'C:\test.txt' DLM='09'X DSD MISSOVER; input date DATETIME20. number2; RUN;   It does not work. SAS read the first variable correctly, but read second variable as missing value.   If I add an +1 in the end of the first variable, it works. I don't know why. data testing2; infile 'C:\test.txt' DLM='09'X DSD MISSOVER; input date DATETIME20. number2; RUN;   If I use the colon modifier and keep the length as 20 it works: data testing2; infile 'C:\test.txt' DLM='09'X DSD MISSOVER; input date :DATETIME20. number2; RUN;   If I use the colon modifier and use the length as 15 it still works: infile 'C:\test.txt' DLM='09'X DSD MISSOVER; input date :DATETIME15. number2; RUN;   I'm so confused. The length of the first variable is 20, so :DATETIME20. should work but it doesn't. Why adding +1 or use colon modifier (even at length 15) work?   Also, am i correct on the following statement: Formatted input: SAS Pointer moves to the next column after reading the variable with formatted input. So if the delimiter is tab, after reading the variable with formatted input, the pointer is actually at the position of TAB. In order to read next variable, I need to use +1 to skip the TAB. Colon modifier: SAS Pointer moves to the beginning position of next variable after reading the variable with colon modifier.   Please help! Thanks!!! ... View more