*Mini-lecture on manipulating dates in STATA
*Yiwey Shieh 8/9/16

clear

*** STEP 1: Input dates ***

gen str8 bday = ""
input
"01/03/60"
"03/22/01"
"08/18/04"
"10/12/74"
"5/30/11"
end
 
list
 

*** STEP 2: create a new STATA variable called "bdaynew" from an old unrecognized date var "bday" ***

gen bdaynew = date(bday, "MDY", 2010)
list
 

*** STEP 3: label "bdaynew" as a day month and year so you can understand it ***

format bdaynew %td
list
*other options available, e.g. %tw, %tm etc.


*** STEP 4: simple addition/subtraction using "bdaynew" variable ***

gen bday10 = bdaynew + 10
format bday10 %td

gen delta = bday10 - bdaynew
list


*** STEP 5: extracting components of dates ***

gen year = year(bdaynew)
gen dow = dow(bdaynew)
list