Re: st: How do I convert a numeric monthly date into 1jan2000 format for use as an argument to the haver command?

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

I have never used -haver- but I know something about dates.

If the data you are importing are monthly I would expect -twithin()-
to expect monthly dates.

Your macro manipulations don't seem the issue here but note that

di %td `month'

does one thing and one thing only: it -display-s the contents of the
local macro -month- according to the format specified. It does not
convert anything to anything else, or have side-effects. What you seem
to be seeking is more likely

local month : di %td dofm(643)

which would place the string "01aug2013" in the local macro -month-.

However, as said, that can't be what -haver- seeks, as direct input failed.

Nick
njcoxstata@gmail.com

On 5 August 2013 16:32, Aaron Kirkman <ak1795mailserv@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a numeric monthly date stored in a macro, i.e.
>
>     loc currentmonth 643
>
> for August 2013. Is there a way to convert this month into the format
> 01aug2013 for use with the haver command's "twithin" or "tin" option?
> Currently, I have this code:
>
>     loc monthn 643
>     loc month `=dofm(`monthn')'
>     di %td `month'
>     haver use PCUP using "haver\USECON.dat", twithin(01jan2013,`month') clear
>
> but this returns an r(198) invalid syntax error. If I follow the
> documentation and omit the macro:
>
>     haver use PCUP using "haver\USECON.dat", twithin(01jan2013,01aug2013) clear
>
> I get the same error. The command works properly if I omit the "twithin" option:
>
>     haver use PCUP using "haver\USECON.dat",  clear
>
> What is the proper date format for the haver command, and how do I
> convert this numeric date into that format?
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