Graph: x-axis labels -> change to desired months

[Livia Gantert]

Hi everyone

I am trying to generate a graph of an index. My data (year,month) ranges from 199901 to 201812. However, the graph displays on the x-axis the values from 200001 to 202001

The data is the following (sorry, it's a bit long):

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float(Jahr_Monat SENT SENT_ORT)
468 . .
469 -.9883735 .17571376
470 -.6953934 .3340038
471 -.4804287 .08225542
472 -.2135436 -.1733986
473 -.40797755 -.6598344
474 -.20301445 -.33490825
475 -.087966 -.24500842
476 .40384895 -.1362675
477 .6014041 .4293425
478 .50686157 .5251744
479 .4979403 1.0525099
480 .54874825 1.7644436
481 .6212594 1.5954952
482 .7128802 1.928487
483 .7200878 1.0643696
484 .6987402 1.478783
485 1.0160284 1.3999777
486 1.122921 1.5570377
487 .8487988 1.3295542
488 1.0435077 1.332692
489 .7587039 1.1980356
490 .7933701 .9344496
491 .7376158 .8985572
492 .8905743 1.2440665
493 .7886781 1.5811487
494 .50602764 1.449081
495 .4108059 .4331162
496 .15761256 .3449513
497 -.07436032 .42745325
498 -.48415455 .02644596
499 -.465555 .13633555
500 -1.531624 .8986828
501 -2.3136506 -.48848554
502 -2.388872 -1.2838695
503 -2.0963929 -2.1475174
504 -.52402335 -1.2027028
505 -.473429 -.013739068
506 -.3525708 .3096239
507 -.70109 -.14804712
508 -.26204827 -.05046533
509 -.9030384 .36876205
510 -2.547417 .14716044
511 -2.2635396 -.10656934
512 -2.3641849 -.4875911
513 -2.3782527 -.9783503
514 -1.9338255 -1.6837498
515 -1.5755464 -1.3207465
516 -1.3992268 -1.2115955
517 -1.8999293 .7026442
518 -2.4891555 .8523473
519 -2.3744946 -.38552395
520 -2.2098827 -.6340695
521 -2.4586594 -1.2069182
522 -1.8027 -1.4833723
523 -.9671379 -1.3858428
524 -.8685479 -1.400233
525 -.7697501 -.604431
526 -1.0154068 -.6951205
527 -.15059333 -1.3649715
528 -.14633152 -.0792993
529 .01277743 .56845385
530 -.3973399 .5889692
531 .2277742 .0040735425
532 -.07434668 .28324583
533 -.026934003 .555994
534 .2985708 .034490287
535 -.02677937 -.24436995
536 .27823198 -.3821239
537 .05901428 -.5832725
538 .14441074 -.7316566
539 .3231294 -.59394413
540 .3038368 -.072538145
541 -.08542635 -.24338
542 -.18277746 -.3218683
543 -.4696557 -.1813648
544 -.3480627 -.7211398
545 .0018222064 -.8706591
546 .12823159 -1.5658035
547 -.18932045 -1.4131793
548 -.25371146 -1.587296
549 -.28956395 -.543177
550 -.3027096 -.6195347
551 .18192355 -1.3518226
552 .5866581 -.20997605
553 .7776828 .4266921
554 .4374009 1.2580547
555 .3468046 .6952513
556 .13170543 .8024296
557 .4168928 .7450286
558 .7971303 .29398882
559 1.215296 .16710547
560 1.3439866 .3271948
561 .9520065 .34591845
562 1.0260141 .2320076
563 1.239202 .7131925
564 .9691528 1.1234146
565 .9287351 1.0530885
566 .7419706 1.0005457
567 1.3036896 1.568058
end
format %tmCYN Jahr_Monat
[/CODE]

my code for to generate the graph:

twoway line SENT SENT_ORT Jahr_Monat, ytitle("XX") xtitle("") title("Test Index")

I have tried the command:
xmlabel(199812 200312 200812 201312 201812)

but nothing in the graph has changed.

What needs to be changed to achieve the desired outcome (on the x-axis)?

Thanks in advance!

[Nick Cox]

You got what you asked for: the format assigned to your date variable is what is being used for the graph. Your new option specifies monthly dates many years into the future, which I guess is why it’s being ignored.

What do you want to see?

Type

display ym(1999, 1)

to get the monthly date for January 1999.

[Livia Gantert]

First of all, thank you very much for replying!

However, I don't understand why in the graph the labels of the x-axis are randomly chosen, e.g. my data ends in 2018, and does not go into 2020? I imagined to label the x-axis with my desired dates.

[Nick Cox]

Nothing is randomly chosen. The intervals are 60 months apart and chosen to be nice so far as possible, meaning simply defined and equal. You can chose different label positions to override the default choice.

[Nick Cox]

Here's another way to do it:

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float(Jahr_Monat SENT SENT_ORT)
468 . .
469 -.9883735 .17571376
470 -.6953934 .3340038
471 -.4804287 .08225542
472 -.2135436 -.1733986
473 -.40797755 -.6598344
474 -.20301445 -.33490825
475 -.087966 -.24500842
476 .40384895 -.1362675
477 .6014041 .4293425
478 .50686157 .5251744
479 .4979403 1.0525099
480 .54874825 1.7644436
481 .6212594 1.5954952
482 .7128802 1.928487
483 .7200878 1.0643696
484 .6987402 1.478783
485 1.0160284 1.3999777
486 1.122921 1.5570377
487 .8487988 1.3295542
488 1.0435077 1.332692
489 .7587039 1.1980356
490 .7933701 .9344496
491 .7376158 .8985572
492 .8905743 1.2440665
493 .7886781 1.5811487
494 .50602764 1.449081
495 .4108059 .4331162
496 .15761256 .3449513
497 -.07436032 .42745325
498 -.48415455 .02644596
499 -.465555 .13633555
500 -1.531624 .8986828
501 -2.3136506 -.48848554
502 -2.388872 -1.2838695
503 -2.0963929 -2.1475174
504 -.52402335 -1.2027028
505 -.473429 -.013739068
506 -.3525708 .3096239
507 -.70109 -.14804712
508 -.26204827 -.05046533
509 -.9030384 .36876205
510 -2.547417 .14716044
511 -2.2635396 -.10656934
512 -2.3641849 -.4875911
513 -2.3782527 -.9783503
514 -1.9338255 -1.6837498
515 -1.5755464 -1.3207465
516 -1.3992268 -1.2115955
517 -1.8999293 .7026442
518 -2.4891555 .8523473
519 -2.3744946 -.38552395
520 -2.2098827 -.6340695
521 -2.4586594 -1.2069182
522 -1.8027 -1.4833723
523 -.9671379 -1.3858428
524 -.8685479 -1.400233
525 -.7697501 -.604431
526 -1.0154068 -.6951205
527 -.15059333 -1.3649715
528 -.14633152 -.0792993
529 .01277743 .56845385
530 -.3973399 .5889692
531 .2277742 .0040735425
532 -.07434668 .28324583
533 -.026934003 .555994
534 .2985708 .034490287
535 -.02677937 -.24436995
536 .27823198 -.3821239
537 .05901428 -.5832725
538 .14441074 -.7316566
539 .3231294 -.59394413
540 .3038368 -.072538145
541 -.08542635 -.24338
542 -.18277746 -.3218683
543 -.4696557 -.1813648
544 -.3480627 -.7211398
545 .0018222064 -.8706591
546 .12823159 -1.5658035
547 -.18932045 -1.4131793
548 -.25371146 -1.587296
549 -.28956395 -.543177
550 -.3027096 -.6195347
551 .18192355 -1.3518226
552 .5866581 -.20997605
553 .7776828 .4266921
554 .4374009 1.2580547
555 .3468046 .6952513
556 .13170543 .8024296
557 .4168928 .7450286
558 .7971303 .29398882
559 1.215296 .16710547
560 1.3439866 .3271948
561 .9520065 .34591845
562 1.0260141 .2320076
563 1.239202 .7131925
564 .9691528 1.1234146
565 .9287351 1.0530885
566 .7419706 1.0005457
567 1.3036896 1.568058
end
format %tmCYN Jahr_Monat

twoway line SENT SENT_ORT Jahr_Monat, ytitle("XX") xtitle("") title("Test Index")

local start1 = ym(1999,1)  
local end1 = ym(2008,1)  
local start2 = ym(1999,7)  
local end2 = ym(2007,7) 
mac li 

twoway line SENT SENT_ORT Jahr_Monat, ytitle("XX") xtitle("") title("Test Index") ///
xticks(`start1'(12)`end1', tlength(*3)) xla(`start2'(12)`end2', noticks format(%tmCY))

See also https://www.stata-journal.com/articl...article=gr0030

[Livia Gantert]

Thank you very much, with the help of that code I managed to make it look the way I wanted