Swapping prefixes and suffixes of variable names with rename

[Krista Lane]

I have many variables. Some begin with "YJan2016" (or another date) and others begin with "Y2016" (or another date). Instead, I am trying to make them end with "Jan2016" or "2016", respectively. Does anyone know how I can do this?

In the rename help file, I found this line, but I don't know how to specify when Stata should be swapping the prefixes and (nonexistent) suffixes. If it helps, no variable besides date variables begins with the character "Y":

"rename *stat* *[2]stat*[1]: Swaps prefixes and suffixes; it renames bpstata to astatbp, rstater to erstatr, etc."

[daniel klein]

Here is an example

clear
inp YJan2016foo Y2016bar
42 42
end

describe

rename (Y*#*) (*[3]*[1]#[2])

describe

Best
Daniel

[Krista Lane]

That worked great. I'm going to have to study it a bit to see what's going on.