Hi,

I am using Stata 17 and need some help in the creation of business calendars. I am intending to create bar charts based on starting dates of recessions and expansions. Below is an example of my dataset:

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input str10 observation_date float(unrate NBER_peaks NBER_troughs) byte usrec double(date datem rec_start_dates unrate_rec_start)
"1948-01-01" 3.4 0 0 0 -4383 -144 -133                  4
"1948-02-01" 3.8 0 0 0 -4352 -143  -77  2.700000047683716
"1948-03-01"   4 0 0 0 -4323 -142  -28  4.400000095367432
"1948-04-01" 3.9 0 0 0 -4292 -141    4  5.099999904632568
"1948-05-01" 3.5 0 0 0 -4262 -140  120 3.9000000953674316
"1948-06-01" 3.6 0 0 0 -4231 -139  167  4.900000095367432
"1948-07-01" 3.6 0 0 0 -4201 -138    .                  .
"1948-08-01" 3.9 0 0 0 -4170 -137    .                  .
"1948-09-01" 3.8 0 0 0 -4139 -136    .                  .
"1948-10-01" 3.7 0 0 0 -4109 -135    .                  .
"1948-11-01" 3.8 1 0 0 -4078 -134    .                  .
"1948-12-01"   4 0 0 1 -4048 -133    .                  .
"1949-01-01" 4.3 0 0 1 -4017 -132    .                  .
"1949-02-01" 4.7 0 0 1 -3986 -131    .                  .
"1949-03-01"   5 0 0 1 -3958 -130    .                  .
"1949-04-01" 5.3 0 0 1 -3927 -129    .                  .
"1949-05-01" 6.1 0 0 1 -3897 -128    .                  .
"1949-06-01" 6.2 0 0 1 -3866 -127    .                  .
"1949-07-01" 6.7 0 0 1 -3836 -126    .                  .
"1949-08-01" 6.8 0 0 1 -3805 -125    .                  .
"1949-09-01" 6.6 0 0 1 -3774 -124    .                  .
"1949-10-01" 7.9 0 1 1 -3744 -123    .                  .
"1949-11-01" 6.4 0 0 0 -3713 -122    .                  .
"1949-12-01" 6.6 0 0 0 -3683 -121    .                  .
"1950-01-01" 6.5 0 0 0 -3652 -120    .                  .
"1950-02-01" 6.4 0 0 0 -3621 -119    .                  .
"1950-03-01" 6.3 0 0 0 -3593 -118    .                  .
"1950-04-01" 5.8 0 0 0 -3562 -117    .                  .
"1950-05-01" 5.5 0 0 0 -3532 -116    .                  .
"1950-06-01" 5.4 0 0 0 -3501 -115    .                  .
"1950-07-01"   5 0 0 0 -3471 -114    .                  .
"1950-08-01" 4.5 0 0 0 -3440 -113    .                  .
"1950-09-01" 4.4 0 0 0 -3409 -112    .                  .
"1950-10-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -3379 -111    .                  .
"1950-11-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -3348 -110    .                  .
"1950-12-01" 4.3 0 0 0 -3318 -109    .                  .
"1951-01-01" 3.7 0 0 0 -3287 -108    .                  .
"1951-02-01" 3.4 0 0 0 -3256 -107    .                  .
"1951-03-01" 3.4 0 0 0 -3228 -106    .                  .
"1951-04-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -3197 -105    .                  .
"1951-05-01"   3 0 0 0 -3167 -104    .                  .
"1951-06-01" 3.2 0 0 0 -3136 -103    .                  .
"1951-07-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -3106 -102    .                  .
"1951-08-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -3075 -101    .                  .
"1951-09-01" 3.3 0 0 0 -3044 -100    .                  .
"1951-10-01" 3.5 0 0 0 -3014  -99    .                  .
"1951-11-01" 3.5 0 0 0 -2983  -98    .                  .
"1951-12-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -2953  -97    .                  .
"1952-01-01" 3.2 0 0 0 -2922  -96    .                  .
"1952-02-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -2891  -95    .                  .
"1952-03-01" 2.9 0 0 0 -2862  -94    .                  .
"1952-04-01" 2.9 0 0 0 -2831  -93    .                  .
"1952-05-01"   3 0 0 0 -2801  -92    .                  .
"1952-06-01"   3 0 0 0 -2770  -91    .                  .
"1952-07-01" 3.2 0 0 0 -2740  -90    .                  .
"1952-08-01" 3.4 0 0 0 -2709  -89    .                  .
"1952-09-01" 3.1 0 0 0 -2678  -88    .                  .
"1952-10-01"   3 0 0 0 -2648  -87    .                  .
"1952-11-01" 2.8 0 0 0 -2617  -86    .                  .
"1952-12-01" 2.7 0 0 0 -2587  -85    .                  .
"1953-01-01" 2.9 0 0 0 -2556  -84    .                  .
"1953-02-01" 2.6 0 0 0 -2525  -83    .                  .
"1953-03-01" 2.6 0 0 0 -2497  -82    .                  .
"1953-04-01" 2.7 0 0 0 -2466  -81    .                  .
"1953-05-01" 2.5 0 0 0 -2436  -80    .                  .
"1953-06-01" 2.5 0 0 0 -2405  -79    .                  .
"1953-07-01" 2.6 1 0 0 -2375  -78    .                  .
"1953-08-01" 2.7 0 0 1 -2344  -77    .                  .
"1953-09-01" 2.9 0 0 1 -2313  -76    .                  .
"1953-10-01" 3.1 0 0 1 -2283  -75    .                  .
"1953-11-01" 3.5 0 0 1 -2252  -74    .                  .
"1953-12-01" 4.5 0 0 1 -2222  -73    .                  .
"1954-01-01" 4.9 0 0 1 -2191  -72    .                  .
"1954-02-01" 5.2 0 0 1 -2160  -71    .                  .
"1954-03-01" 5.7 0 0 1 -2132  -70    .                  .
"1954-04-01" 5.9 0 0 1 -2101  -69    .                  .
"1954-05-01" 5.9 0 1 1 -2071  -68    .                  .
"1954-06-01" 5.6 0 0 0 -2040  -67    .                  .
"1954-07-01" 5.8 0 0 0 -2010  -66    .                  .
"1954-08-01"   6 0 0 0 -1979  -65    .                  .
"1954-09-01" 6.1 0 0 0 -1948  -64    .                  .
"1954-10-01" 5.7 0 0 0 -1918  -63    .                  .
"1954-11-01" 5.3 0 0 0 -1887  -62    .                  .
"1954-12-01"   5 0 0 0 -1857  -61    .                  .
"1955-01-01" 4.9 0 0 0 -1826  -60    .                  .
"1955-02-01" 4.7 0 0 0 -1795  -59    .                  .
"1955-03-01" 4.6 0 0 0 -1767  -58    .                  .
"1955-04-01" 4.7 0 0 0 -1736  -57    .                  .
"1955-05-01" 4.3 0 0 0 -1706  -56    .                  .
"1955-06-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -1675  -55    .                  .
"1955-07-01"   4 0 0 0 -1645  -54    .                  .
"1955-08-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -1614  -53    .                  .
"1955-09-01" 4.1 0 0 0 -1583  -52    .                  .
"1955-10-01" 4.3 0 0 0 -1553  -51    .                  .
"1955-11-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -1522  -50    .                  .
"1955-12-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -1492  -49    .                  .
"1956-01-01"   4 0 0 0 -1461  -48    .                  .
"1956-02-01" 3.9 0 0 0 -1430  -47    .                  .
"1956-03-01" 4.2 0 0 0 -1401  -46    .                  .
"1956-04-01"   4 0 0 0 -1370  -45    .                  .
end
format %td date
format %tm datem
format %tm rec_start_dates
The variable "usrec" is equal to 1 if there is recession on that date. I am trying to plot a bar chart with the "rec_start_dates" and "unrate_rec_start". "rec_start_dates" refers to the start date of a recession. But without a business calendar, dates between the starting dates would be included and there would be large spaces in between the bars. So I have decided to use a business calendar to omit the dates in between the start dates. Below is an example of my business calendar file(stbcal):

Code:
version 16.1
purpose "Converting recession data into business calendar dates"
dateformat ymd
range 1948m12 1973m12
centerdate 1948m12
omit date 1949m1
omit date 1949m2
omit date 1949m3
omit date 1949m4
omit date 1949m5
omit date 1949m6
omit date 1949m7
omit date 1949m8
omit date 1949m9
omit date 1949m10
omit date 1949m11
omit date 1949m12
omit date 1950m1
omit date 1950m2
omit date 1950m3
omit date 1950m4
omit date 1950m5
omit date 1950m6
omit date 1950m7
omit date 1950m8
omit date 1950m9
omit date 1950m10
omit date 1950m11
omit date 1950m12
omit date 1951m1
omit date 1951m2
omit date 1951m3
omit date 1951m4
omit date 1951m5
omit date 1951m6
omit date 1951m7
omit date 1951m8
omit date 1951m9
omit date 1951m10
omit date 1951m11
omit date 1951m12
omit date 1952m1
As you can see, there are many dates to be omitted between start dates and I need to know if there is a shortcut to omit dates without copying and pasting such a long list.

Any help in this area would be appreciated. Thanks!