Date:         Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:44:32 -0400
Reply-To:     "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>"
              <schreier.junk.mail@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>"
              <schreier.junk.mail@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: how to convert char variables into a date format?

On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:23:22 -0700, n <nikhil.abhyankar@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>On Aug 19, 11:19 am, n <nikhil.abhyan...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi all;
>>
>> I have a char9 variable which actually holds dates like, 09-Apr-07.
>>
>> I get an error,  The informat $DATE was not found or could not be
>> loaded. when I try using,
>>
>> data want; set have;
>> informat date DATE7. ;
>> run;
>>
>> Could anybody please tell me what is going wrong and how could I
>> change the informat of the char type variable to a date informat?

You are trying to assign a numeric informat to a character variable. SAS
tries to help by looking for a character informat with the same name
prefixed by a dollar sign, but there is no such informat.

You can change the informat only to a different *character* informat. Date
informats are numeric.

>
>I had tried removing the informat by,
>
>data want;
>   set have;
>   informat date;
>run;
>
>However, even this doesn't seem to work. The proc content still shows
>that date is a char 9 variable.

Right. Changing an informat can't change a variable's type.