Converting integer %td to float %td

[Monica Jaison]

Hello,

Is there any way I can convert a date variable stored as an integer and displayed as %td to storage type "float" %td and vice versa?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Nick Cox]

help recast

In most circumstances,

help compress

is a more useful idea. What is your specific reason for wanting this?

[Monica Jaison]

Thank you, Mr Nick. It worked. But it did not help with my ultimate intention. I was trying to merge two datasets. In the first dataset, the date variable is displayed as 1-Jan-20, 1-Feb-20 ... In the second dataset, the date variable is displayed as 01jan2020, 01feb2020 ... And the merge using dates is unsuccessful even after converting to int %td. Is there any way around this?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Rich Goldstein]

you are not really providing sufficient info - it sounds as though the date variable in one is a string while it is in Stata internal format in the other (and thus is numeric); you don't even show the error message you received; nor do you explain what you mean by "unsuccessful" (it's possible my guess above is wrong); so, please read and follow the advice in the FAQ, esp. section 12