Date:         Wed, 10 Sep 2003 15:05:23 -0700
Reply-To:     "Nico Peruzzi, Ph.D." <nperuzzi@yahoo.com>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Nico Peruzzi, Ph.D." <nperuzzi@yahoo.com>
Subject:      data merge - possibly using dates?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi SPSSers,

I have two datasets that I need to combine.  First one has
an ID, date, and other data.  Second one has ID, date (in a
different format) and other data.

Problem is that the ID is not unique to each case (a series
of cases share the same ID), so when I try a basic merge,
things don't line up as I'd expect.

So, I thought I could try use the dates somehow.

Date in the first set is in this format: 07APR2003:12:51:41

Date in the second set is broken across three variables:
year (4 digits), month (2 digits) and day (2 digits).

Any thoughts on getting these together?

Can I do a 'complex' merge that first looks at ID then
date, or vice-versa?

And how can I recode the dates to match up in a merge (note
that I do not necessarily need the time portion of the date
from dataset 1).

Thanks in advance for any help,  Nico

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