Conversion of SAS Macro Variable to time stamp - date

Question

I am trying to convert SAS Macro variable to timestamp and stumped while conversion. The code which I am using is given below.
%let date = '03/15/2013';
%put %sysfunc(inputn(&date,datetime26.6));
Error which I am getting is
WARNING: Argument 1 to function INPUTN referenced by the %SYSFUNC or
%QSYSFUNC macro function is out of range. NOTE: Mathematical
operations could not be performed during %SYSFUNC function execution.
The result of the operations have been set
to a missing value.
Please let me know if someone knows answers to this.

Answer 1

That is not a DATETIME, that is a DATE format (to INPUT, which depends on the incoming data, not the outgoing). You also need to remove the quotes, SYSFUNC treats quotes as characters, not as string delimiters.
%let date = 03/15/2013;
%put %sysfunc(inputn(&date,MMDDYY10.));
To actually create the datetime, you need to use PUT:
%let date = 03/15/2013;
%put %sysfunc(putn(%sysfunc(dhms(%sysfunc(inputn(&date,MMDDYY10.)),0,0,0)),datetime26.));
However, the better way to do this if you can is to use a date constant...
%let date=15MAR2013;
%put "&date."d;

Answer 2

Joe is mostly correct. If you want a datetime string of midnight 3/15/13, then use
%let date = 03/15/2013;
%put %sysfunc(putn(%sysfunc(dhms(%sysfunc(inputn(&date,MMDDYY10.)),0,0,0)),datetime26.));
Just using PUTN on a date string to "convert" a date to datetime will convert the number of days from epoch (01JAN1960) to the number of seconds from epoch.

Answer 3

My preference for working with dates in macro variables is to store the actual numeric value in the macro variable, and if I need to view/print the formatted value then assign a format to it on the fly:
%let date = %sysfunc(mdy(3,15,2013));
%put %sysfunc(putn(&date,date9.));
That allows you to use it in comparisons like the below (which I find is the most common task):
data xx;
set something;
where datefield = &date;
run;