Working with Dates and Times by Using the ISO 8601 Basic and Extended Notations

ISO 8601 Formatting Symbols

The following list explains the formatting symbols that are used to notate the ISO 8601 dates, time, datetime, durations, and interval values:
n
specifies a number that represents the number of years, months, or days
P
indicates that the duration that follows is specified by the number of years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds
T
indicates that a time value follows. Any value with a time must begin with T.
Requirement:Time values that are read by the extended notation informats that begin with the characters E8601 must use an uppercase T.
W
indicates that the duration is specified in weeks.
Z
indicates that the time value is the time in Greenwich, England, or UTC time.
+|-
the + indicates the time zone offset to the east of Greenwich, England. The - indicates the time zone offset to the west of Greenwich, England.
yyyy
specifies a four-digit year
mm
as part of a date, specifies a two-digit month, 01–12
dd
specifies a two-digit day, 01–1
hh
specifies a two-digit hour, 00–24
mm
as part of a time, specifies a two-digit minute, 00–59
ss
specifies a two-digit second, 00–59
fff | ffffff
specifies an optional fraction of a second using the digits 0–9:
fff use 1 - 3 digits for values read by the $N8601B informat and the $N8601E informat
ffffff use 1 - 6 digits for informat other than the $N8601B informat and the $N8601E informat
Y
indicates that a year value proceeds this character in a duration
M
as part of a date, indicates that a month value proceeds this character in a duration
D
indicates that a day value proceeds this character in a duration
H
indicates that an hour value proceeds this character in a duration
M
as part of a time, indicates that a minute value proceeds this character in a duration
S
indicates that a seconds value proceeds this character in a duration

Writing ISO 8601 Date, Time, and Datetime Values

SAS uses the formats in the following table to write date, time, and datetime values in the ISO 8601 basic and extended notations from SAS date, time, and datetime values.
Date, Time, or Datetime
ISO 8601 Notation
Example
Format
Basic Notations
Date
yyyymmdd
20120915
B8601DAw.
Time
hhmmssffffff
155300322348
B8601TMw.d
Time with time zone
hhmmss+|-hhmm
155300+0500
B8601TZw.d
hhmmssZ
155300Z
B8601TZw.d
Convert to local time with time zone
hhmmss+|-hhmm
155300+0500
B8601LZw.d
Datetime
yyyymmddThhmmssffffff
20120915T155300
B8601DTw.d
Datetime with timezone
yyyymmddThhmmss+|-hhmm
20120915T155300+0500
B8601DZw.d
yyyymmddThhmmssZ
20120915T155300Z
B8601DZw.d
Write the date from a datetime
yyyymmdd
20120915
B8601DNw.
Extended Notations
Date
yyyy-mm-dd
2012-09-15
E8601DAw.
Time
hh:mm:ss.ffffff
15:53:00.322348
E8601TMw.d
Time with time zone
hh:mm:ss.ffffff+|-hh:mm
15:53:00+05:00
E8601TZw.d
Convert to local time with time zone
hh:mm:ss.ffffff+|-hh:mm
15:53:00+05:00
E8601LZw.d
Datetime
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.ffffff
2012-09-15T15:53:00
E8601DTw.d
Datetime with time zone
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.nnnnnn+|-hh:mm
2012-09-15T15:53:00+05:00
E8601DZw.d
Write the date from a datetime
yyyy-mm-dd
2012-09-15
E8601DNw.
An asterisk ( * ) used in place of a date or time formatted value that is out-of-range.

Writing ISO 8601 Duration, Datetime, and Interval Values

Duration, Datetime, and Interval Formats

SAS writes duration, datetime, and interval values from character data using these formats:
Complete Component Forms
Time Component
ISO 8601 Notation
Example
Format
Duration - Basic Notation
PyyyymmddThhmmssfff
P20120915T155300
$N8601BA
-PyyyymmddThhmmssfff
-P20120915T155300
$N8601BA
Duration - Extended Notation
Pyyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff
P2012-09-15T15:53:00
$N8601EA
-Pyyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff
-P2012-09-15T15:53:00
$N8601EA
Duration - Basic and Extended Notation
PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
P2y10m14dT20h13m45s
$N8601B
$N8601E
-PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
-P2y10m14dT20h13m45s
$N8601B
$N8601E
PnW (weeks)
P6w
$N8601B
$N8601E
Interval - Basic Notation
yyyymmddThhmmssfff/yyyymmddThhmmssfff
20120915T155300/20141113T000000
$N8601BA
PnYnMnDTnHnMnS/yyyymmddThhmmssfff
P2y10M14dT20h13m45s/20120915T155300
$N8601B
yyyymmddThhmmssfff/PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
20120915T155300/P2y10M14dT20h13m45s
$N8601BA
Interval- Extended Notation
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff/yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff
2012-09-15T15:53:00/2014-11-13T00:00:00
$N8601EA
PnYnMnDTnHnMnS/yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff
P2y10M14dT20h13m45s/2012-09-15T15:53:00
$N8601E
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff/PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
2012-09-15T15:53:00/P2y10M14dT20h13m45s
$N8601EA
Datetime-Basic Notation
yyyymmddThhmmss.fff+|-hhmm
20120915T155300
$N8601BA
(all blank)
$N8601B
$N8601BA
$N8601E
$N8601EA
Datetime-Extended Notation
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.fff+|-hhmm
2012-09-15T15:53:00
+04:30
$N8601EA
(all blank)
$N8601B
$N8601BA
$N8601E
$N8601EA

Writing Omitted Components

An omitted component can be represented by a hyphen ( - ) or an x in the extended datetime form yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss and in the extended duration form Pyyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.
Omitted components in the durations form PnYnMnDTnHnMnS are dropped, they do not contain a hyphen or x. For example, P2mT4H.
The following formats write omitted components that use the hyphen and the x:
Format
Datetime Form
Duration Form
Examples
$N8601H
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
--09-15T15:-:53
P2Y2DT4H5M6S/--09-15T15:-:00
$N8601EH
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
Pyyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
P000---02T02:55:20/2012---15T-:-:45
$N8601X
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
PnYnMnDTnHnMnS
P2Y2DT4H5M6S/x-09-15T15:x:00
$N8601EX
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
Pyyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
P0003-x-02T02:55:20/2012-x-15Tx:x:45
Datetime values with omitted components that are formatted with either the $N8601B format or the $N8601BA format are formatted in the extended notation using the hyphen for omitted components to ensure accurate data. For example, when the month is an omitted component, the value 2012---15 is written and not 2012-15.
The extended notation with hyphens is also used in place of the basic notation if a duration is formatted by using the $N8601BA format. Using the same date, P2012---15 is written and not P2012-15.

Writing Truncated Duration, Datetime, and Interval Values

Duration, datetime, or interval values can be truncated when one or more lower order values is 0 or is not significant. When SAS writes a truncated value using the formats $N8601B, $N8601BA, $N8601E, and $N8601EA, the display of the value stops at the last nonmissing component.
When you format a truncated value by using either the $N8601H format or the $N8601EH format, the lower order components are written with a hyphen. When you format a truncated value by using the $N8601X format or the $N8601EX format, the lower order components are written with an x.
The following examples show truncated values:
  • p00030202T1031
  • 2012-09-15T15/2014-09-15T15:53
  • -p0003-03-03T-:-:-
  • P2y3m4dT5h6m
  • 2012-09-xTx:x:x
  • 2012

Normalizing Duration Components

When a value for a duration component is greater than the largest standard value for a component, SAS normalizes the component except when the duration component is a single component. The following table shows examples of normalized duration components:
Duration
Extended Normalized Duration 
p3y13m
 
p0004-01
 
pt24h24m65s
 
P----01T-:25:05
 
p3y13mT24h61m
 
P0004-01-01T01:01
 
p0004-13
 
p0005-01
 
p0003-02-61T15:61:61
 
P0003-04-01T16:02:01
 
p13m
 
P13M
If a component contains the largest value, such as 60 for minutes or seconds, SAS normalizes the value and replaces the value with a hyphen. For example, pT12:60:13 becomes PT13:-:13.
Thirty days is used to normalize a month.
Dates and times in a datetime value that are greater than the standard value for the component are not normalized. They produce an error.

Fractions in Durations, Datetime, and Interval Values

Ending components can contain a fraction that consists of a period or a comma, followed by one to three digits. The following examples show the use of fractions in duration, datetime, and interval values:
  • 201209.5
  • P2012-09-15T10.33
  • 2012-09-15/P0003-03-03,333
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