How to determine whether a numeric or character value exists within a group of variables

Using the IN operator to determine whether a numeric or character value exists within a group of variables

When trying to determine whether a specific value exists within a group of variables, a common approach is to associate the variables with an ARRAY and then use a DO loop to loop through every element or variable in the ARRAY. As an example,
here is a segment of code:


array my_array[*] var1 - var10;
do i = 1 to dim(my_array);
if some_value = my_array[i] then found = 'Yes';
end;

A more efficient alternative is to use the IN operator with the name of the ARRAY and avoid using the DO loop. This can be done with both numeric ARRAYS as well as character ARRAYS. Here is a code segment:

array my_array[*] var1 - var10;
if some_value IN my_array then found = 'Yes';

source: http://support.sas.com/kb/33/227.html

How to convert a SAS date to a character variable

/***************************************************************************//*
Title: Convert a SAS date to a character variable *// *
*//* Goal: Use the PUT function to create a character variable from *//*
a SAS date. *//* *//***************************************************************************/

data one;
input sasdate :mmddyy6.;
datalines;
010199;
run;

data two;
set one;
chardate=put(sasdate,mmddyy6.);
run;

/* RESULTS */

Obs sasdate chardate
1 14245 010199


Source: ftp://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/sample/datastep/convertchar.html

How to convert a character variable that represents a date into a SAS date

Convert a character variable that represents a date into a SAS date

Use the INPUT function to convert a character value that represents a date into a SAS date value.

Data one;
input chardate1 :$6. chardate2 :$9. chardate3 $10. chardate4 :$9.;
datalines;
010199
31dec1999
21/09/2005
5/9/2005; Run;

/* Use the INPUT function to convert a character value that represents a date
*//* into a SAS date value. Choose the second parameter to the INPUT function
*//* based upon what the current character value looks like. Use a FORMAT
*//* statement to apply the date format you want when you are done. *//*

*//* Note: If you are in SAS 9.0 or above, you may prefer using the ANYDTDTEw.
*//* Informat as the second argument to the INPUT function. ANYDTDTEw.
*//* can read multiple date layouts. Refer to the SAS Language Reference,
*//* Dictionary under INFORMATS for more information. */


data two;
set one;
sasdate1=input(chardate1,mmddyy6.);
sasdate2=input(chardate2,date9.);
sasdate3=input(chardate3,ddmmyy10.);
sasdate4=input(chardate4,ddmmyy10.);
format sasdate1 mmddyy10. sasdate2 yymmdd10. sasdate3 date9. sasdate4 monyy7. ;
run;

proc print;
run;

RESULTS:
Obs chardate1 chardate2 chardate3 chardate4 sasdate1 sasdate2 sasdate3 sasdate4 1
01 0199 31dec1999 21/09/2005 5/9/2005 01/01/1999 1999-12-31 21SEP2005 SEP2005
source: http://support.sas.com/kb/24/591.html