st: convert date in string data type to integer data type

[Whitney Cox <wcox@parchment.com>]

I have a  Stata .dta file that contains a date in a  str10 data type field
with the format of %10s that displays a date as 01/31/2012
I want to convert it to an integer data type with the format
%tdNN/DD/CCYY, which displays as 01/31/2012

What should my command be to do that?

Thanks - Whit

*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/