Hi,

I have string data on start and end times of an activity in "hhmm" format. I want to find the total time spent on the task. However, I am facing a problem.


Code:
gen seconds= 0
split time_from, p(:)
destring time_from1 time_from2, replace
rename (time_from1 time_from2)(hour minute)
gen from_time = hms(hour,minute,second)
format %tcCCYY-NN-DD_hh:MM_AM from_time
drop hour minute

split time_to, p(:)
destring time_to1 time_to2, replace
rename (time_to1 time_to2)(hour minute)
gen to_time = hms(hour,minute,second)
//format %tcCCYY-NN-DD_hh:MM_AM to_time
drop hour minute second
Using this, I created the time spent.
Code:
gen time_spent = to_time - from_time
however, the values are not in minutes. Please find data example here.

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str5(time_from time_to)
"04:00" "08:00"
"08:00" "08:30"
"08:30" "09:00"
"09:00" "10:00"
"10:00" "10:30"
"10:30" "11:00"
"11:00" "11:30"
"11:30" "15:00"
"15:00" "15:30"
"15:30" "18:00"
"18:00" "19:00"
"19:00" "19:30"
"19:30" "20:30"
"20:30" "21:00"
"21:00" "04:00"
"04:00" "07:30"
"07:30" "08:00"
"08:00" "08:30"
"08:30" "10:00"
"10:00" "10:30"
"10:30" "11:00"
"11:00" "15:00"
"15:00" "15:30"
"15:30" "16:00"
"16:00" "18:30"
"18:30" "19:00"
"19:00" "19:30"
"19:30" "21:00"
"21:00" "04:00"
"04:00" "08:00"
"08:00" "08:30"
"08:30" "09:00"
"09:00" "10:00"
"10:00" "10:30"
"10:30" "11:00"
"11:00" "11:30"
"11:30" "16:00"
"16:00" "17:00"
"17:00" "19:00"
"19:00" "19:30"
"19:30" "20:00"
"20:00" "22:00"
"22:00" "04:00"
"04:00" "07:00"
"07:00" "07:30"
"07:30" "08:00"
"08:00" "10:00"
"10:00" "10:30"
"10:30" "11:00"
"11:00" "11:30"
"11:30" "16:00"
"16:00" "16:30"
"16:30" "18:30"
"18:30" "19:30"
"19:30" "20:00"
"20:00" "21:30"
"21:30" "04:00"
"04:00" "07:00"
"07:00" "07:30"
"07:30" "08:00"
"08:00" "09:00"
"09:00" "09:30"
"09:30" "10:00"
"10:00" "12:00"
"12:00" "15:00"
"15:00" "18:00"
"18:00" "20:00"
"20:00" "20:30"
"20:30" "21:00"
"21:00" "04:00"
"04:00" "08:00"
"08:00" "08:30"
"08:30" "09:00"
"09:00" "10:00"
"10:00" "10:30"
"10:30" "11:00"
"11:00" "13:00"
"13:00" "16:00"
"16:00" "18:00"
"18:00" "19:30"
"19:30" "20:00"
"20:00" "21:00"
"21:00" "04:00"
"04:00" "06:00"
"06:00" "06:30"
"06:30" "07:00"
"07:00" "08:00"
"08:00" "09:00"
"09:00" "09:30"
"09:30" "10:00"
"10:00" "12:00"
"12:00" "13:00"
"13:00" "16:00"
"16:00" "18:00"
"18:00" "18:30"
"18:30" "19:30"
"19:30" "20:00"
"20:00" "21:00"
"21:00" "21:30"
"21:30" "04:00"
end
Thanks!