Can't readin dates?

[saqi2000]

Hi guys,

I have got a txt file and it has got some dates in it in the following format (ddmmyy8.):
12/12/71

but when I try to read in using below data step it does not read in and it inserts period (.) instead of date (this happens when I try to read it in as a numeric) but it reads fine as a character.

Is it possible to readin dates?

Data work.line;
infile "c:\temp\upload.txt";
input id 1-5 lineno 7-9 emp 11-19 dob $ 21-28
fname $ 30-88 type 90-92 comp_id 94-98
valid 101-105 product $ 107 absind $ 109
ptake $ 111-115 tot 117-119 est $ 121-123
desig $ 125-127 sigs $ 129-131 prdevid $ 133
prdscrip $ 135 prdfeed $ 137 prd_status 139-141
date_stocked $ 143-150 lockstat 152-154
date_stamp $ 156-174;
run;


text file:

12345,123,123456789,26/12/71,My Name is Saqi The Angel I work for Harvard College of Com,123,456789,12345,N,Y,Mondy,100,Yes,Tes,Nop,M,N,O,444,26/12/71,999, 11NOV02:13:56:05


Thanks

Saqi Knowledge is something no one can steal from you and it increase as time goes by. Saqi

 

[MatthiasB]

Hi Saqi,

using formats is right - you can either read in as text, then make it a numeric date (see below), or use an informat on reading.

69   data _null_;
70      dt = '12/12/71';
71      numdt = input (dt, DDMMYY8.);
72      put numdt 'is ' numdt DATE9.;
73      run;

4363 is 12DEC1971
NOTE: DATA statement used:
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.02 seconds

Cheers,
Matthias

 

[saqi2000]

Matthias,

thanks for your help. I have got it working using formats.

Cheers

Saqi Knowledge is something no one can steal from you and it increase as time goes by. Saqi