How can I make a character variable equal to the formatted value of a numeric variable for arbitrary SAS formats?

Question

If I have a numeric variable with a format, is there a way to get the formatted value as a character variable?

e.g. I would like to write something like the following to

Answer 1

Use vformat() function.

/* test data */
data test;
  i = "10jun2009"d;
  format i ddmmyy10.;
run;

/* print out the value using the associated format */
data _null_;
  set test;
  i_formatted = putn(i, vformat(i));
  put i_formatted=;
run;
/* on log
i_formatted=10/06/2099
*/