Dear statalist,

I have been trying to convert string dates but I got inconsistent results.

My data look like this:

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str10 Date
"13jan2015"
"24may1976"
"12jun2012"
"20mar1962"
"07mar1877"
"23dec1974"
"17sep2014"
"21dec1962"
"05mar2008"
"11nov2015"
end
Since I am only interested to the years, to destring Date I type:
Code:
 encode Date, generate(Date2)
generate Date3=year(Date2)
However, what I got is:
Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input float Date3
1962
1964
1961
1963
1961
1963
1962
1963
1960
1961
end
As you see, I obtained strange results.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Best,
Stefano