I have a set of dates as str8, with values such as "19960718". I want to
convert these to elapsed date values, but the date function doesn't seem to
work; date("19960718", "ymd") yields missing.
Is there something I'm not aware of to make this work? -- some alternation
of the pattern ("ymd")?
I note that date("1996/07/18", "ymd") works fine, but that's not the form
my data are in. I also know how to split the strings and work on the
components. But is there a simple one-step way to do it?
Thanks,
-- David
David Kantor
Institute for Policy Studies
Johns Hopkins University [email protected]
410-516-5404
