convert string date to spss date after importing it from Excel

[mon...@yahoo.de]

Hi all,
after importing an Excel sheet into SPSS I have a problem with a
variable in date-format. Pretty well in Excel, SPSS made a string like
38292 out of it. Any ideas how to convert it back to a date-format
valid in SPSS?
Thanks,
Laszlo

[the.lae...@gmail.com]

Becoming a string after importing to SPSS is probably owing to some
alphabet in your Excel spreadsheet, like "Missing", "No date", etc.
SPSS detects that and declares your variable as string. Recode them
into something numerical in Excel, then try importing again, it should
make it a numeric.

I'm using SPSS 13 and it recognizes date format automatically, if that
problem persists, try the variable view, under "type", change it to
"date" instead of "number"

[mon...@yahoo.de]

Great, thank you.
Indeed there was a missing, which caused SPSS to recognize the variable
as a string. Changed that and now everything works fine.
Thanks again, Laszlo.

[Stat_UFPE]

Dear Friend

Is your problem this?
The real date in EXCEL is 29/02/83 and after imported in SPSS is
38292...

[jeffor...@gmail.com]

Would a time in EXCEL after the date cause the same problem? If so, how do I get rid of the the times in EXCEL?

Thanks.

Chuck

[fatihaad...@gmail.com]

yes ,,