YYYYMM date to "ym" Stata

[Francois Durant]

Hi,

I have a data variable that has the YYYYMM format. Is there a 1 line function that creates a "ym" stata variable? I have tried "date()" but does not seem to suit my need. Thanks!

[Nick Cox]

Indeed. as date() is for producing daily dates. "Format" here is ambiguous as what you cite is not a Stata display format and doesn't make clear whether you have a numeric or string variable.

Here's some technique:

. clear 

. set obs 1
number of observations (_N) was 0, now 1

. gen ndate = 201606

. gen sdate = "201606"

. gen ndate2 = ym(floor(ndate/100), mod(ndate, 100))

. gen sdate2 = ym(real(substr(sdate, 1, 4)), real(substr(sdate, -2,2)))

. format *2 %tm

. l

     +-----------------------------------+
     |  ndate    sdate   ndate2   sdate2 |
     |-----------------------------------|
  1. | 201606   201606   2016m6   2016m6 |
     +-----------------------------------+