parsing datetime field

[#1]

I'm trying to parse a date+time but without success.

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

b = Parse Date(a, "d/m/y h:m:s"); // Returns "."

Is there a way to parse a date+time like this?

[#2]

Not sure why you are having trouble. In 10.0.1 if I run your script with a "show()" added:

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

b = Parse Date(a, "d/m/y h:m:s");

show(a, b)

I get this in the Log:

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

b = 11Sep2012:08:58:19;

Michael

[#3]

It could depend on your locale.  Are you outside of the US?

This might work better for you:

c = informat(a, "d/m/y h:m:s");

[#4]

I'm  indeed outside US, but I don't understand why that would effect parsing of dates in this way.

With informat(a, "d/m/y h:m:s"); the results are the same (I think that informat and parse date are equivalent?)

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

b = .;

c = .;

My JMP Pro version is 9.0.3

[#5]

Check out this link:

You may need to replace the slashes with dashes or periods as mentioned by MS in this discussion.

[#6]

I think my locale the issue, it is set to 24 hour format (13:00) which makes parsing of AM/PM dates not possible...

Show(Informat("11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM", "m/d/y h:m:s"));

Show(Informat("11/9/2012 8:58:19", "m/d/y h:m:s"));

Results in:

Informat("11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM", "m/d/y h:m:s") = .;

Informat("11/9/2012 8:58:19", "m/d/y h:m:s") = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

It seems there is no way to specify AM/PM in the date format.

For now I can do this ugly hack...

f = function({datetimestring},

    size = length(datetimestring);

    t = left(datetimestring, size - 3);

    d = Parse Date(t, "d/m/y h:m:s");

    If(Right(datetimestring, 2) == "PM", Date Increment(d, "Hour", 12, "actual"), d)

);

show(f("11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM"));

show(f("11/9/2012 8:58:19 PM"));

11Sep2012:08:58:19;

11Sep2012:20:58:19;

[#7]

The Parse Date() function and Informat() function are aliases of each other and neither requires a second argument.

When no second argument is supplied JMP will try to interpret the string as a date, time or datetime using a variety of formats. This will almost always work.

It certainly does in this case, regardless of the locale setting.

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

b = Parse Date(a);

/*:

09Nov2012:08:58:19

//:*/

a = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 PM";

b = Parse Date(a);

/*:

09Nov2012:20:58:19

[#8]

Unfortunately there is some spurious locale dependency.

For example, this code give different results depending on locale (but time settings does not matter):

a1 = "11/9/2012 8:58:19 AM";

a2 = "11/9/2012 8:58:19";

a3 = "11-9-2012 8:58:19 AM";

a4 = "11-9-2012 8:58:19";

Show( Parse Date( a1 ), Parse Date( a2 ), Parse Date( a3 ), Parse Date( a4 ) );

//JMP 10.0.1 in OS X 10.8.2 region set to "Sweden", 24 hour time

Parse Date(a1) = .;

Parse Date(a2) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a3) = .;

Parse Date(a4) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

//Same computer, but region set to "USA", 24 hour time

Parse Date(a1) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a2) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a3) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a4) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

//Same computer, region set to "UK", 12 hour time

Parse Date(a1) = .;

Parse Date(a2) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a3) = .;

Parse Date(a4) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

//Same computer, region set to "UK", 24 hour time

Parse Date(a1) = .;

Parse Date(a2) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

Parse Date(a3) = .;

Parse Date(a4) = 09Nov2012:08:58:19;

[#9]

Thanks MS, this makes clear what is going on.

It guess there is no way to specify AM/PM format as the "format" parameter in Parse Date (like %p with strptime in C)?

[#10]

Interesting

If the datetime is in the form 11SEP2012 8:58:19 AM then this works perfectly

data x;

   a="11SEP2012 8:58:19 AM";

   b=input(a,datetime24.);

   format b datetime19.;

   put b=;

run;

But if the datepart is formatted with /'s 11/9/2012 it falls apart!