/*****************************************************************************************************************

SAS file name: Convert_Character_Date.sas
File location: 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Purpose: To demonstrate the corect way of converting a character date to a valid SAS date.
Author: Peter Clemmensen
Creation Date: 13/07/2017

This program supports the blog post "" on SASnrd.com

*****************************************************************************************************************/

/* Three different examples of converting a chracter date to a valid SAS date */
data Dates;
   CharDate1="20oct2017";                 /* Format: date9    */
   CharDate2="20/10/2017";                /* Format: ddmmyy10 */
   CharDate3="10/20/2017";                /* Format: mmddyy10 */

   Numdate1=input(CharDate1, date9.);     /* Valid SAS Date   */
   NumDate2=input(CharDate2, ddmmyy10.);  /* Valid SAS Date   */
   NumDate3=input(CharDate3, mmddyy10.);  /* Valid SAS Date   */

   format Num: date9.;
run;

proc contents data=Dates;
run;

proc print data=Dates;
run;