Make dummy variable using dates with format like 05jan2015 ( %td)

[Silje Skarbo]

Hi,

I have a variabel named "salesday" with observations of different sales dates. The format is %td, and look like this 05jan2015 06jan2015 and so on.
I want to make a dummy for specific dates that has a special sale that day. I know the dates. So lets say I want to make a dummy that is:

generate special_sale = 0
replace special_sale = 1 if salesday == "05jan2015"
replace special_sale = 1 if salesday == "15jan2015"

But when I try to replace the dummy with 1 for the date I get "type mismatch"
If I try without the " " stata say that 05jan2015 is a invalid name.

Can anyone help me with the correct way to do this in stata?

[Eric de Souza]

Try
replace special_sale = 1 if salesday == td(05jan2015)

[Silje Skarbo]

Thank you, Eric!