Dates in mata

[Luis Pecht]

Hi, maybe a very simple question:

in Stata we have:

. display daily("`c(current_date)'", "DMY")
22938

the equivalent output in mata can be:

: "`c(current_date)'"
  20 Oct 2022


: stata(`"display daily("`c(current_date)'", "DMY")"')
22938

Is there any way to get Stata date notation, not using Stata(), in mata. Maybe using print?

[William Lisowski]

Wow, the documentation for the Mata date() functions in [M-4] Dates would be more helpful if it mentioned that each function takes the same sort of arguments as the Stata function of the same name.

: date("20oct2022","DMY")
  22938

: date("`c(current_date)'","DMY")
  22938

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

William Lisowski , from the documentation, this is explained in [M-5] Dates.

help mata date

List of all datetime() functions

...

Description

These functions mirror Stata's date functions; see [D] Datetime.

[William Lisowski]

Leonardo Guizzetti -

Yes, it subsequently became apparent to me that I had misunderstood the intent of "[M-4] Categorical guide to Mata functions". It is just a guide - to get details you need to click on a functioin name link in the leftmost column to find your way to the full documentation in "[M-5] Alphabetical index to Mata functions" (which constutes more than just an index, I feel obliged to point out).

Thank you for your post, it's good to clean up the misimpression I left before I confuse some later reader.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Yes, I can see how that could be confusing if you land at this giant index of all mata functions. There is nothing wrong with a simple reminder in [M-4] Dates that these functions also mirror the Stata function syntax.