=========================================================================
Date:         Wed, 12 Jul 2006 14:03:47 -0500
Reply-To:     "Oliver, Richard" <roliver@SPSS.COM>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Oliver, Richard" <roliver@SPSS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Transforming date variables
Comments: To: Siraj Ur-rehman <Siraj.Ur-rehman@Ipsos-ASI.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I might use scratch variables for all those intermediate variables, and/or I might just parse the number using the TRUNC and MOD functions, as in:

compute #day=mod(datevar,100).
compute #month=trunc(mod(datevar,10000)/100).
compute #year=trunc(datevar/10000).
compute newdate=date.mdy(#month, #day, #year).
formats newdate (adate10).

You could, of course condense this down to one largish Compute statement:
compute newdate=date.mdy(trunc(mod(datevar,10000)/100),
   mod(datevar,100),trunc(datevar/10000)).

Both this solution and the substring solution assume that all dates are in the form yyyymmdd with four-digit years, two-digit months, and two-digit days.

But...I think SPSS normally reads and correctly converts Excel dates to SPSS date-format variables, so theoretically none of this should be necessary.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Siraj Ur-rehman
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 12:04 PM
To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Transforming date variables

I think if the date variable is numeric then use this one

Compute Var_Year  = number(substr(string(Date_var,f8.0),1,4),f4.0).
Compute Var_Month = number(substr(string(Date_var,f8.0),5,2),f2.0).
Compute Var_Day   = number(substr(string(Date_var,f8.0),7,2),f2.0).
exe.
Compute New_Date  = DATE.MDY(Var_Month,Var_Day,Var_Year).

FORMATS New_Date (ADATE10).
EXECUTE.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Edward Boadi
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:59 AM
To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Transforming date variables

Try This:

Compute Var_Year  = number(substr(Date_var,1,4)).
Compute Var_Month = number(substr(Date_var,5,2)).
Compute Var_Day   = number(substr(Date_var,7,2)).
Compute New_Date  = DATE.MDY(Var_Month,Var_Day,Var_Year).

FORMATS New_Date (ADATE10).
EXECUTE.

---Edward.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of
[Ela Bonbevan]
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:25 AM
To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Transforming date variables


Hello all,

Another small question - I am working with spss 14 and using the date
function.  I have a variable imported from Excel that is a date but it
is in a numeric format.  I want to make it a recognized date variable in
spss.  For July 25, 2006 the value appears as 20060725.  Using the
date/time wizard it appears easiest to transform a variable that is a
string.  I want to do this in the syntax but I can't figure out how.
This means that I have to go back to the data window and change it to a
string manually.  I am sure this is easy to do but I have been through
the manual section on formats with no luck...

Many thanks
Diane