On 6/14/05, Richard Hillary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello,
> Given a vector of characters, or factors, denoting the date in
> the following way: 28/03/2000, is there a method of
> 1) Computing the earliest of these dates;
> 2) Using this as a base, then converting all the other dates into merely
> the number of days after this minimum date
Convert dates to chron (whose default date format is the
one needed here); convert that to numeric (which will be the
number of days since some origin) and then do the indicated
subtraction:
library(chron)
x <- as.character(x) # can omit if already character
x.num <- as.numeric(chron(x))
x - x.num - min(x.num)
Alternately convert it to Date and use julian (or convert
x.Date to numeric and use subtraction, as with chron):
x <- as.character(x) # can omit in latest R 2.1.0 patched
x.Date <- as.Date(x, "%m/%d/%Y")
julian(x.Date, min(x.Date))
The as.Date.factor method in the latest R 2.1.0 patched
supports the format string (second argument of as.Date) for
factors but older versions of R did not. If your x is a
factor but you do not want to upgrade right now start off
with the statement: x <- as.character(x)
More info on dates is in R News 4/1.
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