Dates
This code reads date of birth as a character string, as an unformatted number, and as a date formatted number:

DATA POINTER;  
   INPUT @1  ID       3.  
         @13 CharDOB  $6.  
         @13 NumDOB   MMDDYY6.  
         @13 DOB      MMDDYY6.;  
FORMAT DOB MMDDYY8.;   
DATALINES;  
101 M 26 68 012366  
102 M 32 78 031460  
103 F 45 62 112647  
104 F 22 66 080170  
;  
PROC PRINT DATA=POINTER;  
   TITLE 'Example 6, modified';  
RUN;

When reading the data above, the code produces the following output:

Example 6, modified
  
OBS     ID    CHARDOB    NUMDOB         DOB
  
 1     101    012366       2214    01/23/66  
 2     102    031460         73    03/14/60  
 3     103    112647      -4419    11/26/47  
 4     104    080170       3865    08/01/70