SAS Dates

Last Updated : 29 June, 2004

Center of Excellence
Data Warehousing
Dates
 Three types of Date Formats commonly used
 Calendar Date
 Julian Date
 SAS Date
 Value for a SAS date is the number of days difference from the date of 1st
January 1960.
 Dates after 01/01/1960 are positive values while any prior dates are stored as
negative integers.
 DateInternal SAS value
 25th March 1959 -282
 31st December 1959 -1
 1st January 1960 0
 2nd January 1960 1
 25th March 1960 84
 1st March 2001 15035
Dates
 One format of a date can be displayed as another format easily, by
using pre-set formats.
 An important thing to note is that although the way the value prints is
different, the internal value (the number representing the date) does
not change.
 Some examples of commonly used formats are given below:
Format Used Result
Date. 01MAR01
Date9. 01MAR2001
Day. 1
Julday. 60
Julian. 01060
Mmddyy. 03/01/01
Month. 3
Monyy. MAR01
Qtr. 1
Year. 2001
Yymmdd. 01-03-01
Yyqr. 2001QI
Dates
 Dates Functions
 Datejul
 DATEJUL(julian-date)
– Converts a Julian date to a SAS date
 Example
date=datejul(juldate)
juldate=2002186
date=15526
 Datepart
 DATEPART(calendar date)
 Converts a date extracted through SQL procedure to a SAS date

 Example
date=datepart(caldate)
juldate=July 4 2002:11:30:01
date=15526
Dates
 Dates Functions
 Day
 DAY(date)
– Returns a day of the month from the SAS date
 Example
cdate=day(date)
date=15526
cdate=4
 Month
 Month(date)
– Returns the month from the SAS date
 Example
cdate=day(date)
cdate=15526
cdate=7
Dates

 Dates Functions
 Year
 YEAR(date)
– Returns the year from the SAS date
 Example
cdate=year(date)
date=15526
cdate=2
 Timepart
 TIMEPART(calendar date)
– Converts a time extracted through SQL procedure to a SAS date
 The time gets converted to a running number
Dates

 Dates Informats
 Dates are read in, using an informat to convert the raw data
from the input file to a SAS date for internal storage
 INFORMATs are used to read a variable. The following
INFORMATS are used in case of Dates

 DATEw.
– Reads dates in form : ddmmmyy or ddmmmyyyy
 Julianw.
– Reads Julian dates in form : yydd or yyyyddd
 MMDDYYw.
– Reads dates in form : mmddyy or mmddyyyy
Dates

 Dates Formats
 FORMATS give SAS special instructions to write a variable or
date
 The following FORMATS are used in case of Dates

 DATEw.
– Writes SAS value in the form of ddmmmyy
 DAYw.
– Writes the day of the month from a SAS date value
 Julianw.
– Writes a Julian date form a SAS date value
 MMDDYYw.
– Writes SAS date values in form mmddyy
Questions