Which function would you use to determine the quarter of a date in SAS?

The QTR() function is specifically designed to determine the quarter of a date in SAS. It takes a SAS date value as an argument and returns an integer value representing the quarter of the year in which the date falls. Quarters are defined as follows: January through March is the first quarter (1), April through June is the second quarter (2), July through September is the third quarter (3), and October through December is the fourth quarter (4).

This function is essential for time series analysis and reporting where it's crucial to analyze data by quarters for comparisons, trends, or aggregations.

In contrast, the MONTH() function provides the month number of a given date but does not indicate which quarter that month belongs to. The WEEKDAY() function indicates the day of the week for a specific date, returning values from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday). The YEAR() function simply returns the year of the date, which is not relevant for identifying quarters. Thus, the QTR() function is the most appropriate choice for determining the quarter of a date in SAS.