Reading dates in "yyyymmdd" format

[Vicent Giner-Bosch]

Hello again.

I have another doubt regarding dates in SPSS.

I need to read a TXT file in which dates are in "yyyymmdd" format (for
example, 20071224 for today).

Which syntax do I need to use in SPSS in order to import that field
correctly??

I tried GET DATA, with "SDATE8" format for the date field, but the result
was an empty column.

The point is that I don't know if SPSS accepts other date formats different
from those described in the SPSS help file ("Date and Time Formats").

If not, I suppose that I should read the date field as a "character", and
then "translate" the character column into date by means of syntax.

Any (other) suggestion for this topic?

Thnak you in advance for your help.

--
Vicent

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[ViAnn Beadle]

The SDATE format is YYYY/MM/DD. You do not have slashes in your number. As
you have surmised, you'll have to split the string variable up into its
three parts and then rebuild the date variable:

COMPUTE year=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,1,4),f4).
COMPUTE month=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,5,2),f2).
COMPUTE day=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,7,2),f2).
* Date and Time Wizard: newdatevar.
COMPUTE  newdatevar=DATE.DMY(day, month, year).
VARIABLE LABEL  newdatevar "".
VARIABLE LEVEL  newdatevar (SCALE).
FORMATS  newdatevar (SDATE10).
VARIABLE WIDTH  newdatevar(10).

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Vicent Giner Bosch
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 6:55 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Reading dates in "yyyymmdd" format

Hello again.

I have another doubt regarding dates in SPSS.

I need to read a TXT file in which dates are in "yyyymmdd" format (for
example, 20071224 for today).

Which syntax do I need to use in SPSS in order to import that field
correctly??

I tried GET DATA, with "SDATE8" format for the date field, but the result
was an empty column.

The point is that I don't know if SPSS accepts other date formats different
from those described in the SPSS help file ("Date and Time Formats").

If not, I suppose that I should read the date field as a "character", and
then "translate" the character column into date by means of syntax.

Any (other) suggestion for this topic?

Thnak you in advance for your help.

--
Vicent

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
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For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
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=====================
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[Oliver, Richard]

Alternatively:
 
compute #day=mod(datevar,100).
compute #month=trunc(mod(datevar,10000)/100).
compute #year=trunc(datevar/10000).
compute newdate=date.dmy(#day, #month, #year).
formats newdate (date11).


________________________________

From: SPSSX(r) Discussion on behalf of ViAnn Beadle
Sent: Mon 12/24/2007 8:53 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Reading dates in "yyyymmdd" format



The SDATE format is YYYY/MM/DD. You do not have slashes in your number. As
you have surmised, you'll have to split the string variable up into its
three parts and then rebuild the date variable:

COMPUTE year=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,1,4),f4).
COMPUTE month=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,5,2),f2).
COMPUTE day=NUMBER(SUBSTR(mydate,7,2),f2).
* Date and Time Wizard: newdatevar.
COMPUTE  newdatevar=DATE.DMY(day, month, year).
VARIABLE LABEL  newdatevar "".
VARIABLE LEVEL  newdatevar (SCALE).
FORMATS  newdatevar (SDATE10).
VARIABLE WIDTH  newdatevar(10).

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Vicent Giner Bosch
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 6:55 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Reading dates in "yyyymmdd" format

Hello again.

I have another doubt regarding dates in SPSS.

I need to read a TXT file in which dates are in "yyyymmdd" format (for
example, 20071224 for today).

Which syntax do I need to use in SPSS in order to import that field
correctly??

I tried GET DATA, with "SDATE8" format for the date field, but the result
was an empty column.

The point is that I don't know if SPSS accepts other date formats different
from those described in the SPSS help file ("Date and Time Formats").

If not, I suppose that I should read the date field as a "character", and
then "translate" the character column into date by means of syntax.

Any (other) suggestion for this topic?

Thnak you in advance for your help.

--
Vicent

=====================
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[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
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[Peck, Jon]

The Date/Time wizard will build syntax for you for some formats that are not built in directly to SPSS, including the one you ask about.

Assuming that you have read the date as a string, the wizard would generate the following syntax to convert it.  (I used adate10 for the output format, but you can pick whatever you want.  I didn't specify a variable label.)

COMPUTE newdate=date.dmy(number(substr(ltrim(adate),7,2),f2.0), number(substr(ltrim(adate),5,2),f2.0),
    number(substr(ltrim(adate),1,4),f4.0)).
VARIABLE LABEL newdate "".
VARIABLE LEVEL  newdate (SCALE).
FORMATS newdate (ADATE10).
VARIABLE WIDTH  newdate(10).

HTH,
Jon Peck

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Vicent Giner Bosch
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 6:55 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Reading dates in "yyyymmdd" format

Hello again.

I have another doubt regarding dates in SPSS.

I need to read a TXT file in which dates are in "yyyymmdd" format (for
example, 20071224 for today).

Which syntax do I need to use in SPSS in order to import that field
correctly??

I tried GET DATA, with "SDATE8" format for the date field, but the result
was an empty column.

The point is that I don't know if SPSS accepts other date formats different
from those described in the SPSS help file ("Date and Time Formats").

If not, I suppose that I should read the date field as a "character", and
then "translate" the character column into date by means of syntax.

Any (other) suggestion for this topic?

Thnak you in advance for your help.

--
Vicent

=====================
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[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
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=====================
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