Date to numeric value

[Rik Velthoven]

Hi you guys,

I have a problem with my data. I want to convert my date which is defined as DDMMYYYY to a numeric value but I don't know how to do this in Stata. Could someone help me out with this? I would really appreciate your help.

Greeting,
Rik

[Roger Chu]

Hello Rik,

Assuming that your date data is in a string variable, and it follows the DDMMYYYY format completely, you can use the date() function. This solution is also assuming you mean that you're looking for the %td date format.

Something like...

gen numeric_date = date(string_date, "DMY")
format numeric_date %td

Look up

help f_date

for more information.

[Nick Cox]

I'd add a reference to

help datetime

It's all documented for you to read.