st: Automating generation of new vars from coordinated groups ofinput vars.

[Clare L Maxwell <maxwellcl1@earthlink.net>]

I have lots of dates I would like to calculate from month, day and 
year variables.  It is a repetative task, and I would like to find a 
way to automate it so that I would not have to write a gen command 
for each group of variables.  Below is a partial list:

"day" variables:  vday bday hivday cd4day rnday
              hxday1 hxday2 bgday1 bgday2 endday1 endday2
              lpday1 lpday2 cbday1 cbday2 ceday1 ceday2
"month" variables: vmo bmo  hivmo  cd4mo rnmo
              hxmo1 hxmo2 bgmo1 bgmo2 endmo1 endmo2
              lpmo1 lpmo2 cbmo1 cbmo2 cemo1 cemo2
"year" variables: vyr byr  hivyr  cd4yr rnyr
              hxyr1 hxyr2 bgyr1 bgyr2 endyr1 endyr2
              lpyr1 lpyr2 cbyr1 cbyr2 ceyr1 ceyr2
new "date" variables:  vdate bdate hivdt cd4dt rndt
              hxdt1 hxdt2 bgdt1 bgdt2 enddt1 enddt2
              lpdt1 lpdt2 cbdt1 cbdt2 cedt1 cedt2

Goal:  compute dates from all these month, day and year variables 
without writing a gen command for each set.

I have more complicated repetative tasks that also use coordinated 
groups of variables.  This seemed simplest to explain.  I hope if I 
find a way to deal with the dates, I will be able to generalize it to 
similar repetative situations.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

				Yours truly,
				Clare Maxwell
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/