Documenting beginning and ending variable dates
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by Sean Becketti, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City


^finddate^ varlist [^if^ exp] [^in^ range] [^, date(^datevars^) nobs^ ]

lists the dates or observation numbers of the first and last nonmissing
observations for each variable in the varlist. 

If the ^date^ option is specified, the first and last dates are listed;
otherwise, the first and last observation numbers are listed.  The data
set is assumed to be sorted in the order of datevars.

If ^nobs^ is specified, the number of nonmissing observations, the total
number of observations, and the number of gaps in the series are indicated.

Example:
	. ^finddate gnp, date(year quarter)^

lists the year and quarter of the first and last nonmissing observations for
the variable ^gnp^.