st: import excel

["Jenniffer Solorzano Mosquera" <Jenniffer.Solorzano.Mosquera@jibs.hj.se>]

Hi,

Is there any way to import several files from excel with a loop in such a =
way I preserve the original format of the data?

I have 100 excel reports of 100 firms each one. The problem is that every =
single row is a firm but the firm has many observations by date in the =
same cell. In excel you can see that with format the information is =
possible to read because they are separated in terms of format but they =
are in the same cell.=20
For example:
This list is information of firm 1, and it is only in one cell:

09/01/2010
09/01/2009
09/01/2008
12/31/2007
12/31/2006
This list is for firm 2, in the next row and so on:
04/01/2010
04/01/2009
04/01/2008
12/31/2007
12/31/2006

When I import everything appears in only one cell in the dta file. The =
problem is that there is no regular pattern of the variables. Some columns =
are value of investments (not only dates) so you can not separate by =
programming a regular loop to identify the information imported. I can =
identify the dates because they are made from 10 digits always, but the =
same doesn't happen with other type of information.

Any recommendation?

Thanks






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