Hi Mark,

depending on the form of your input data, you may be able to read it in using a similar informat, eg ddmmyy, by concatenating some extra data in front of it. If your data contains delimiters, you might also try the compress function.

Try the following :

data thing ; input @1 cmonth $7. ; month=input("01"!!compress(cmonth,'.Mm/- '),ddmmyy8.); format month mmyyn6. ; cards; 051999 05.1999 05m1999 05M1999 05/1999 05-1999 ; run;

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Arun

ARUN RASTOGI Director Qual I.T. Services Pty Ltd. (Sydney, Australia) http://www.qual-it.com.au

-----Original Message----- From: Peter Crawford <Peter@CRAWFORDSOFTWARE.DEMON.CO.UK> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.sas-l To: SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU> Date: Tuesday, 25 May 1999 7:14 Subject: Re: Creating an informat

>No real solution seems available short of creating an informat to >support MMYYw. with SAS/Toolkit. > >However, if you have any design influence, there is informat YYMMxw. >Perhaps the source might be amenable to change > > >Terjeson, Mark <TERJEMW@DSHS.WA.GOV> writes >>Hi everyone, >> I am looking for an INFORMAT corollary to the >>the outgoing FORMAT MMYYxw. >> The input data would be such as 051999. There >>there doesn't seem to be an informat for that, such >>as MMYYN6. >> >> The PICTURE feature of PROC FORMAT seems >>to be for output only. However, the on-line documentation >>under PICTURE contains and entry called "Create an Informat" >>which then eludes to some capabilities in the SAS/ASSIST module. >>I do not currently have SAS/ASSIST on-line. >> >> Yes, I could read as $6. and parse it into the MDY() function, >>but I am trying to keep a particular process generic for dynamically >>building the input statements, and would like to avoid the custom code. >> >> Does anyone have an alternative solution to input data >>directly into a sas date from the text data structured as MMCCYY? >> >>Thanks in advance, >> >>Mark Terjeson >>Washington State Department of Social and Health Services >>Research and Data Analysis >>(360) 902-0741 >>terjemw@dshs.wa.gov > >-- >Peter Crawford (_knowledge_ is a poor substitute for *real* experience, > but they make a great team) >