sas: how to informat and format variable names as date - date

Question

I got a data with some variable names are dates, but it cannot show date format when importing in sas. How can I format them as datetime when they are variable names?
The original Excel data like this:
acc_items
name
31/12/2017
31/12/2018
COMA - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN
COMA
13344
37578
COMA - MARKET CAPITALIZATION
COMA
7522
9763
COMB - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN
COMB
65456
76962
COMB - MARKET CAPITALIZATION
COMB
7665
9983
I write the code as this:
proc import datafile="C:\Users\sampledata"
dbms=xlsx replace
out=test;
run;
But when importing in sas, the data shows as following:
acc_items
name
_43100
_43465
COMA - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN
COMA
13344
37578
COMA - MARKET CAPITALIZATION
COMA
7522
9763
COMB - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN
COMB
65456
76962
COMB - MARKET CAPITALIZATION
COMB
7665
9983
Can anyone help? Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

When you store dates in a character field (variable names are character strings) in Excel then SAS converts them to digits that represents the internal number Excel uses to represent that date.
Since you should be storing data like dates in variables and not in metadata (variable names) just transpose the data to get the names into a variable. You can then convert the names back into dates.
proc transpose data=test out=tall;
by acc_items name notsorted;
var _: ;
run;
data want;
set tall;
date = input(compress(_name_,'_'),32.)+'30DEC1899'd ;
format date date9.;
rename col1 = amount;
drop _name_;
run;
Results
Obs acc_items name amount date
1 COMA - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMA 13344 31DEC2017
2 COMA - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMA 37578 31DEC2018
3 COMA - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMA 7522 31DEC2017
4 COMA - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMA 9763 31DEC2018
5 COMB - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMB 65456 31DEC2017
6 COMB - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMB 76962 31DEC2018
7 COMB - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMB 7665 31DEC2017
8 COMB - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMB 9983 31DEC2018
If you want to print your data in the same style as the original Excel report then use PROC REPORT and define DATE as an ACROSS variable.
proc report split='00'x data=want;
column acc_items name amount,date;
define acc_items/group;
define name/group;
define amount/sum ' ' format=comma10.;
define date/across ' ' format=ddmmyy10.;
run;
Results
acc_items name 31/12/2017 31/12/2018
COMA - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMA 7,522 9,763
COMA - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMA 13,344 37,578
COMB - MARKET CAPITALIZATION COMB 7,665 9,983
COMB - OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN COMB 65,456 76,962