HOLIDAYTEST Function

Returns 1 if the holiday occurs on the SAS date value.

Category:	Date and Time

Table of Contents

Syntax

HOLIDAYTEST('holiday',date<,'locale'>)

Required Arguments

'holiday'

is a character constant, variable, or expression that specifies one of the values that are listed in the following table. The holiday variable can also be defined using the DATEKEYS procedure and is made available to the function that uses the EVENTDS= system option.

Holiday Values and Their Descriptions
Holiday Value	Description	Date Celebrated
BOXING	Boxing Day	December 26
CANADA	Canada Day	July 1
CANADAOBSERVED	Canada Day observed	July 1, or July 2 if July 1 is a Sunday
CHRISTMAS	Christmas	December 25
COLUMBUS	Columbus Day	2nd Monday in October
JUNETEENTH	Juneteenth	June 19
JUNETEENTHUSG	Juneteenth - U.S. government-observed	Juneteenth date observed by U.S. government for Monday–Friday schedule
JUNETEENTHUSPS	Juneteenth - U.S. post office -observed	Juneteenth date observed by U.S. government for Monday–Saturday schedule (U.S. Postal Service)
EASTER	Easter Sunday	date varies
FATHERS	Father's Day	3rd Sunday in June
HALLOWEEN	Halloween	October 31
LABOR	Labor Day	1st Monday in September
MLK	Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday	3rd Monday in January beginning in 1986
MEMORIAL	Memorial Day	last Monday in May (since 1971)
MOTHERS	Mother's Day	2nd Sunday in May
NEWYEAR	New Year's Day	January 1
THANKSGIVING	U.S. Thanksgiving Day	4th Thursday in November
THANKSGIVINGCANADA	Canadian Thanksgiving Day	2nd Monday in October
USINDEPENDENCE	U.S. Independence Day	July 4
USPRESIDENTS	Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's birthdays observed	3rd Monday in February (since 1971)
VALENTINES	Valentine's Day	February 14
VETERANS	Veterans Day	November 11
VETERANSUSG	Veterans Day - U.S. government-observed	U.S. government-observed date for Monday–Friday schedule
VETERANSUSPS	Veterans Day - U.S. post office observed	U.S. government-observed date for Monday–Saturday schedule (U.S. Post Office)
VICTORIA	Victoria Day	Monday on or preceding May 24

date

specifies the beginning date value in the form ‘ddmonyy’d or ‘ddmonyyyy’d.

dd	is a two-digit integer that represents the day of the month.
mon	is a three-character string that represents the month: JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC.
yy or yyyy	is a two- or four-digit integer that represents the year. If only two digits are used, the YEARCUTOFF= option is valid.

Optional Argument

'locale'

specifies the POSIX locale value. See Locale-to-Encoding Mapping in SAS National Language Support (NLS) Reference for SAS Viya Workbench.

Details

The EVENTDS= option makes the date keys available. You can define the date keys with the DATEKEYS procedure. Also, you can assign a locale to a date key with the DATEKEYS procedure. If you do not assign the locale to the date keys, then the predefined date keys do not have locales. If the locale argument is specified, then the date key must be defined using the DATEKEYS procedure, or a predefined date key needs to have a locale set that uses the DATEKEYS procedure. Then the new definition needs to be made available with the EVENTDS= system option.

Example

The following example specifies whether the holiday occurs on the SAS date:

data a;
   length is $9;
   holiday='Christmas';
   test=holidaytest(holiday,today());
   if (test=1) then is='today';
      else is='not today';
   put holiday= is=;
run;

data a;
   length is $9;
   holiday='Christmas';
   test=holidaytest(holiday,today());
   if (test=1) then is='today';
      else is='not today';
   put holiday= is=;
run;

SAS writes these results to the log:

holiday=Christmas is=not today

Last updated: April 14, 2026