Creating local (or global) macro of current date, in DDNNCCYY format

[Andrew Wade]

Hi,
I'm trying to automatically create a global macro in my do files of the current date, that I can append to log file names etc.
In format DDNNYYYY. So today would be 02112018.

I was hoping to be able to do this in one or two lines with macro functions.
But the closest I can get is as follows..which involves creating a variable.
Any suggestions for a better way?

sysuse auto
gen date_current_temp = date("`c(current_date)'","DMY",2000) in 1
format date_current_temp %tdDDNNCCYY
global date = string(date_current_temp,"%tdDDNNCCYY") in 1
drop date_current_temp
di "$date"

Regards,

Andrew

[Joseph Coveney]

I recommend avoiding global macro variables as much as possible. If you're creating the log file from within a do-file, then you can work with a local macro. Something like the following:

local today : display %tdCYND date(c(current_date), "DMY")
display in smcl as text "`today'"
log using my_log`today'.smcl name(log) nomsg
// etc.

[Nick Cox]

local wanted : di %tdDNCY daily("$S_DATE", "DMY")

di "`wanted'"
02112018

[Andrew Wade]

Hi Joseph and Nick.
Thanks heaps. Works great.
Regards,
Andrew

[Joro Kolev]

This FAQ discusses the issue too

https://www.stata.com/support/faqs/d...date-and-time/

[Caterina Brest Lopez]

Hi! Is there a way of doing this for datetime (that is, including the exact time as well) instead of date?? Thanks!

[Nick Cox]

. di "$S_DATE $S_TIME"
13 Jun 2020 16:55:59