Dear All,
How do I generate a variable which equals 1 for the first month the company
enters the dataset, equals 2 for the second month the company enters the
dataset etc...
 
It is an unbalanced panel, so every company starts from a different date.
I have an example of the dataset below,
 
companyname                 companyid        date            
 date_s          variable
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-03-1965        -1138   
       1
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-04-1965        -1137   
       2
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-05-1965        -1136   
       3
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-06-1965        -1135   
       4
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-07-1965        -1134   
       5
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-08-1965        -1133   
       6
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-09-1965        -1132   
       7
Agra and Masterman's ltd           1          01-10-1965        -1131   
       8
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-03-1959        -1210   
       1
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-04-1959        -1209   
       2
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-05-1959        -1208   
       3
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-06-1959        -1207   
       4
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-07-1959        -1206   
       5
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-08-1959       
-1205           6
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-09-1959        -1204   
       7
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-10-1959        -1203   
       8
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-11-1959        -1202   
       9
Agra and United Service ltd         2          01-12-1959        -1201   
      10
?Variable? is the variable that I want to generate from the date.
Many Thanks for your help.
Best Wishes
Wenwen 
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