As far as Stata are concerned your -sdate-
variable is an arbitrary string.
To get a date from such data, you must
spell out the interpretation rule, e.g.
. di date("28.2.2003", "dmy")
15764
So try
gen date = date(sdate, "dmy")
That said, another way to get what
you ask is
split sdate, p(.) destring
rename sdate1 day
rename sdate2 month
rename sdate3 year
Nick
[email protected]
Ana Gabriela Guerrero Serdan
> I want to convert a variable that includes dates as
> follows: day.month.year (e.g. 1.4.2005) into three
> different variables for day, month and year (day=1,
> month=4,year=2005)
>
> I have tried the date commands but since I have dots
> stata does not recognize them.
>
> . list sdate incident sex agecat
> +-------------------------------------------+
> sdate incident sex agecat
> -------------------------------------------
> 1. 20.3.2003 x007 unknown Unknown
> 2. 20.3.2003 x038 male Unknown
> 3. 20.3.2003 x038 male Unknown
> 4. 20.3.2003 x038 male child
> 5. 20.3.2003 x038 female child
> -------------------------------------------
> 6. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 7. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 8. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 9. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 10. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> -------------------------------------------
> 11. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 12. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 13. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 14. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 15. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> -------------------------------------------
> 16. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> 17. 20.3.2003 x038 unknown Unknown
> etc...
>
>
> Break--
> r(1);
> . generate date=year(sdate)
> type mismatch
> r(109);
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