The B8601DZw. format writes datetime values for the zero meridian Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) time by using the ISO 8601 datetime and time zone basic notation yyyymmddThhmmss+0000. When the specified width is less than enough to output the +0000 portion, a Z should be output instead.

The Z is not output as it should be. Instead, an error is written to the log as follows:

   ERROR: Width specified for format B8601DZ is invalid.

The documentation for the B8601DZw. format indicates the minimum width is 20 and it should be 16. This will be changed in a future release of the documentation.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	N/A	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Windows Vista	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Windows Vista for x64	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		64-bit Enabled AIX	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		64-bit Enabled HP-UX	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		64-bit Enabled Solaris	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		HP-UX IPF	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Linux	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Linux for x64	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		OpenVMS on HP Integrity	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Solaris for x64	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		z/OS	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft® Windows® for x64	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS1M0	9.4 TS1M0

* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.

When the width of the format is too small for the +0000 to be appended to the end of the value, a Z should be output instead. This doesn't occur and the ERROR outputs instead.

---

data _null_;
  input @1 x b8601dz.;
  put x=;
  put x b8601dz19.;
  put x b8601dz26.;
datalines;
20110915T155300+0500
20110915T155300Z
;
run;

24   data _null_;
25   input @1 x b8601dz.;
26   put x=;
27   put x b8601dz19.;
           ----------
           29
ERROR 29-185: Width specified for format B8601DZ is invalid.

28   put x b8601dz26.;
29   datalines;

Type:	Problem Note
Priority:	medium
Topic:	SAS Reference ==> Formats ==> Date and Time

Date Modified:	2012-01-31 10:39:48
Date Created:	2012-01-12 11:39:37