From here
If your data is longer than the default length, you need to use informats. For example, date or time values, names, and addresses can be longer than eight characters. In such cases, you either need to add an INFORMAT statement to the DATA step or add informats directly in the INPUT statement. However, when the informats are used in the INPUT statement, care must be taken to honor the function of the delimiter to prevent read errors. If you add informats in an INPUT statement, you must add a colon (:) in front of the informat, as shown in this example:
If your data is longer than the default length, you need to use informats. For example, date or time values, names, and addresses can be longer than eight characters. In such cases, you either need to add an INFORMAT statement to the DATA step or add informats directly in the INPUT statement. However, when the informats are used in the INPUT statement, care must be taken to honor the function of the delimiter to prevent read errors. If you add informats in an INPUT statement, you must add a colon (:) in front of the informat, as shown in this example:
