Replacing with a string variable

[Chris Parfitt]

Hi all,

I am getting a type mismatch when I want to replace a variable with a string variable.

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int deal_id float date_deal
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
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1 .
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1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
1 .
end

I am trying

replace date_deal = "12oct2006" if deal_id == 1

But I get a type mismatch. Is this because I am attempting to create a string variable?
Thanks,
Chris

[Nick Cox]

Yes indeed. replace won't change storage type in this way. But there is essentially no point to storing dates as strings any way. You can't do much with them. They won't even sort in the order you want. So, you should replace with mdy(10, 12, 2006) or whatever.

[Chris Parfitt]

Thanks for your reply.

replace date_deal = date("12oct2006", "DMY") if deal_id == 1

Using that code gives me

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int deal_id float date_deal
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
1 17086
end

A value of 17086, which isn't workable. Is there a program I should install for it to work properly?

[Carole J. Wilson]

You need to format date_deal :

format date_deal %td
list

[Nick Cox]

Chris: Earlier today you used date display formats given advice in https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...dmmyyyy-format

If you didn't understand what they did

help format
help datetime display formats