Karen,

When you specify a format with a length on the input line, SAS starts the following variable at the next column which, is a delimiter, so it sees the variable as a null. Try puttiong the input formats in an INFORMAT like this:

data TEMP; length id $10 vdate 8 timetext $10 ddate 8 dtimetext $10 gender $1 ageyears 8; informat vdate ddate yymmdd10.; infile cards DSD delimiter='7C'x TRUNCOVER; input id vdate timetext ddate dtimetext gender ageyears ; format vdate ddate mmddyy10.;

cards; 2y3034821c|2000/07/05|03:05 AM|2000/03/29|11:52 PM|M|49 72db1acd0f|2000/12/16|11:03 AM|||M| bb4e2a0718|2000/07/28||||M|48 6d59ff5c05|2000/02/10|11:13 PM|||F|37 ff1361cc92|2000/09/25|01:16 AM|||M|51 4cbc8e3bcc|||||M|51 3a30f0c61c|2000/03/29|04:37 PM|||| f7331c4b6e|2000/12/27|03:16 PM|||F|47 d5f747e0dd|2000/08/09|10:00 AM|||F|47 077739b87d|2000/12/18|04:55 PM|||F|57 4ff29e7e20|2000/12/17|00:12 AM||||68 nf8ss7f4db|2000/03/28|03:37 AM|||F|59 a118a49ba7|2000/06/14|09:02 PM|||F|57 6780 77b80|2000/07/10|07:37 PM|||F|57 nhk034857b|2000/05/08|03:37 PM|||M|26 ; run; proc print; run;

Karen Olson <karen.olson@TCH.HARVARD.EDU> Sent by: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> 02/06/2004 12:59 PM Please respond to Karen Olson

To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU cc: Subject: reading delimited data

I have a delimited data file (delimited with |) that contains id, date, time, another date, another time, gender, and age.

I tried to read it with the following code:

data TEMP; length id $10. vdate 8. timetext $10. ddate 8. dtimetext $10. gender $1. ageyears 8.; infile 'TEMP.TXT' DSD delimiter='7C'x TRUNCOVER; input id $ vdate yymmdd10. timetext $ ddate yymmdd10. dtimetext $ gender $ ageyears ; format vdate ddate mmddyy10.; run;

However, I am not reading the data correctly and am having the most trouble reading the time variables.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Karen Olson Children's Hospital Boston karen.olson@tch.harvard.edu

-------------------------------- This is my sample data file: -------------------------------- 2y3034821c|2000/07/05|03:05 AM|2000/03/29|11:52 PM|M|49 72db1acd0f|2000/12/16|11:03 AM|||M| bb4e2a0718|2000/07/28||||M|48 6d59ff5c05|2000/02/10|11:13 PM|||F|37 ff1361cc92|2000/09/25|01:16 AM|||M|51 4cbc8e3bcc|||||M|51 3a30f0c61c|2000/03/29|04:37 PM|||| f7331c4b6e|2000/12/27|03:16 PM|||F|47 d5f747e0dd|2000/08/09|10:00 AM|||F|47 077739b87d|2000/12/18|04:55 PM|||F|57 4ff29e7e20|2000/12/17|00:12 AM||||68 nf8ss7f4db|2000/03/28|03:37 AM|||F|59 a118a49ba7|2000/06/14|09:02 PM|||F|57 6780 77b80|2000/07/10|07:37 PM|||F|57 nhk034857b|2000/05/08|03:37 PM|||M|26

-------------------------------- This is what my code yields: -------------------------------- Obs id vdate timetext ddate dtimetext gender ageyears

1 2y3034821c 07/05/2000 . 000/03/29 1 . 2 72db1acd0f 12/16/2000 . M . 3 bb4e2a0718 07/28/2000 . . 4 6d59ff5c05 02/10/2000 . F 37 5 ff1361cc92 09/25/2000 . M 51 6 4cbc8e3bcc . . . 7 3a30f0c61c 03/29/2000 . . 8 f7331c4b6e 12/27/2000 . F 47 9 d5f747e0dd 08/09/2000 . F 47 10 077739b87d 12/18/2000 . F 57 11 4ff29e7e20 12/17/2000 . 68 12 nf8ss7f4db 03/28/2000 . F 59 13 a118a49ba7 06/14/2000 . F 57 14 6780 77b80 07/10/2000 . F 57 15 nhk034857b 05/08/2002 . M 26