I want to convert a String to Date in SAS, I tried:

data _null_; monyy = '05May2013'; date = input(substr(strip(monyy),1,9),yymmdd.);; put date=date9.; run;

But it did not work. Can this be done?

7 Answers

Formats like

date9. 

or

mmddyy10. 

are not valid for input command while converting text to a sas date. You can use

Date = input( cdate , ANYDTDTE11.);

or

Date = input( cdate , ANYDTDTE10.); 

for conversion.

2

You don't need substr or strip.

input(monyy,date9.);

As stated above, the simple answer is:

date = input(monyy,date9.);

with the addition of:

put date=yymmdd.;

The reason why this works, and what you did doesn't, is because of a common misunderstanding in SAS. DATE9. is an INFORMAT. In an INPUT statement, it provides the SAS interpreter with a set of translation commands it can send to the compiler to turn your text into the right numbers, which will then look like a date once the right FORMAT is applied. FORMATs are just visible representations of numbers (or characters). So by using YYMMDD., you confused the INPUT function by handing it a FORMAT instead of an INFORMAT, and probably got a helpful error that said:

Invalid argument to INPUT function at line... etc...

Which told you absolutely nothing about what to do next.

In summary, to represent your character date as a YYMMDD. In SAS you need to:

1. change the INFORMAT - date = input(monyy,date9.);
2. apply the FORMAT - put date=YYMMDD10.;

2

Try

data _null_; monyy = '05May2013'; date = input(substr(strip(monyy),1,9),date9.); put date=date9.; run;

input(char_val, date9.);

You can consider to convert it to word format using input(char_val, worddate.)

You can get a lot in this page

This code helps:

data final; set final;
first_date = INPUT(compress(char_date),date9.); format first_date date9.;
run;

I personally have tried it on SAS

input(char_val,current_date_format);

You can specify any date format at display time, like set char_val=date9.;

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password Submit

Post as a guest

Post Your Answer Discard

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.