Derive time series variables from date variable

You can create new time-scale variables by deriving them from the existing date variables in the database. Derived variables can be time-scale (e.g., year, quarter, month, weeks) or seasonal intervals and behave as categorical variables.

A new derivative can be one of the following:

• YEAR

• HALF YEAR

• QUARTER

• MONTH

• WEEK

• MONTH_OF_YEAR

• QUARTER_OF_YEAR

• WEEKDAY/WEEKEND

• DAY_OF_WEEK

To create derived variables

• Open a database, go to Settings → Meta-Editor;

• Find a date variable and click on the ‘cog’ icon on the right;

• Select one of the options from the pop-up window and click 'Submit'. Note, that the pattern section is editable: after selecting an option, you can manually adjust how the data will be displayed;

• A newly created variable is added in a codebook below the parental date variable and is indicated by one of these two icons: ‘clock' for time-scales or ‘sun&clock’ for seasonal intervals;

• Options labels in a derived variable are automatically generated.

While you can edit these variables in the Meta-Editor, any subsequent data reload or update will revert them to the default ones.