is there any way to align the date format?

[Jacob Grant]

Hi

I have two sets of dates in my dataset, but they are importing as different types.

"NamesDate" shows as "1/2/2013" but when I select the cell in the data editor, it appears as "01jan2013".
"EventDate" shows as 6/23/2014 and shows as the same when selected.

I have tried changing the format, but it puts "00/2/2013"

I am trying to run the code below but am met with "type mismatch" error.

by CompanyID: gen target=datenum if NamesDate == EventDate

[Nick Cox]

You're trying to get a string variable and a numeric variable to show in similar fashion. There are various ways to do that, but the best is almost certainly to take your string variable and map it to a numeric date variable. To get best advice, please copy and paste the results of

dataex NamesDate EventDate

as explained at https://www.statalist.org/forums/help#stata

[Jacob Grant]

I get the results

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input int NamesDate str10 EventDate
19360 " 6/23/2014"
19361 " 6/23/2014"
19362 " 6/23/2014"
19365 " 6/23/2014"
19366 " 6/23/2014"
19367 " 6/23/2014"
19368 " 6/23/2014"
19369 " 6/23/2014"
19372 " 6/23/2014"
19373 " 6/23/2014"
19374 " 6/23/2014"
19375 " 6/23/2014"
19376 " 6/23/2014"
19380 " 6/23/2014"
19381 " 6/23/2014"
19382 " 6/23/2014"
19383 " 6/23/2014"
19386 " 6/23/2014"
19387 " 6/23/2014"
19388 " 6/23/2014"
19389 " 6/23/2014"
19390 " 6/23/2014"
19393 " 6/23/2014"
19394 " 6/23/2014"
19395 " 6/23/2014"
19396 " 6/23/2014"
19397 " 6/23/2014"
19400 " 6/23/2014"
19401 " 6/23/2014"
19402 " 6/23/2014"
19403 " 6/23/2014"
19404 " 6/23/2014"
19408 " 6/23/2014"
19409 " 6/23/2014"
19410 " 6/23/2014"
19411 " 6/23/2014"
19414 " 6/23/2014"
19415 " 6/23/2014"
19416 " 6/23/2014"
19417 " 6/23/2014"
19418 " 6/23/2014"
19421 " 6/23/2014"
19422 " 6/23/2014"
19423 " 6/23/2014"
19424 " 6/23/2014"
19425 " 6/23/2014"
19428 " 6/23/2014"
19429 " 6/23/2014"
19430 " 6/23/2014"
19431 " 6/23/2014"
19432 " 6/23/2014"
19435 " 6/23/2014"
19436 " 6/23/2014"
19437 " 6/23/2014"
19438 " 6/23/2014"
19439 " 6/23/2014"
19442 " 6/23/2014"
19443 " 6/23/2014"
19444 " 6/23/2014"
19445 " 6/23/2014"
19449 " 6/23/2014"
19450 " 6/23/2014"
19451 " 6/23/2014"
19452 " 6/23/2014"
19453 " 6/23/2014"
19456 " 6/23/2014"
19457 " 6/23/2014"
19458 " 6/23/2014"
19459 " 6/23/2014"
19460 " 6/23/2014"
19463 " 6/23/2014"
19464 " 6/23/2014"
19465 " 6/23/2014"
19466 " 6/23/2014"
19467 " 6/23/2014"
19470 " 6/23/2014"
19471 " 6/23/2014"
19472 " 6/23/2014"
19473 " 6/23/2014"
19474 " 6/23/2014"
19477 " 6/23/2014"
19478 " 6/23/2014"
19479 " 6/23/2014"
19480 " 6/23/2014"
19481 " 6/23/2014"
19484 " 6/23/2014"
19485 " 6/23/2014"
19486 " 6/23/2014"
19487 " 6/23/2014"
19488 " 6/23/2014"
19491 " 6/23/2014"
19492 " 6/23/2014"
19493 " 6/23/2014"
19494 " 6/23/2014"
19495 " 6/23/2014"
19498 " 6/23/2014"
19499 " 6/23/2014"
19500 " 6/23/2014"
19501 " 6/23/2014"
19502 " 6/23/2014"
end
format %tdnn/dd/CCYY NamesDate

[Nick Cox]

Thanks for the data example. It's puzzling because the dates are already shown similarly, but here is some technique:

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input int NamesDate str10 EventDate
19360 " 6/23/2014"
19361 " 6/23/2014"
19362 " 6/23/2014"
19365 " 6/23/2014"
19366 " 6/23/2014"
19367 " 6/23/2014"
19368 " 6/23/2014"
19369 " 6/23/2014"
19372 " 6/23/2014"
19373 " 6/23/2014"
19374 " 6/23/2014"
19375 " 6/23/2014"
19376 " 6/23/2014"
19380 " 6/23/2014"
end

gen EventDate2 = daily(EventDate, "MDY")
format %tdnn/dd/CCYY NamesDate EventDate2 

list 



     +------------------------------------+
     | NamesDate    EventDate   EventDa~2 |
     |------------------------------------|
  1. |  1/2/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  2. |  1/3/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  3. |  1/4/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  4. |  1/7/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  5. |  1/8/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
     |------------------------------------|
  6. |  1/9/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  7. | 1/10/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  8. | 1/11/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
  9. | 1/14/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
 10. | 1/15/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
     |------------------------------------|
 11. | 1/16/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
 12. | 1/17/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
 13. | 1/18/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
 14. | 1/22/2013    6/23/2014   6/23/2014 |
     +------------------------------------+