Applying as.Date returns NA

Question

I have vector of dates that looks like this (in reality the vector is much longer):

dta= data.frame(c("Mar 22, 2013", "Feb 4, 2013","Oct 3, 2016", "Apr 8, 2014", 
"Sep 6, 2013", "Jul 16, 2014"))
colnames(dta)<-c("time")

dta$time<-as.Date(dta$time, '%B %d, %Y')

Now, as I apply as.Date NA is returned for date number 2 and 4. Could someone help me to figure out what I missed? Thanks in advance!

I am not getting any NA with R 3.3.2 – akrun Mar 11 '17 at 07:03 — akrun, Mar 11 '17 at 07:03

Davide Passaretti · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-11T07:45:09.910

1

I think it is a matter of system language. I am Italian, and if I execute your code I get NA's at 3rd, 5th, and 6th position. But if I execute:

dta= data.frame(c("Mar 22, 2013", "Feb 4, 2013","Ott 3, 2016", "Apr 8, 2014", 
              "Set 6, 2013", "Lug 16, 2014"))
colnames(dta)<-c("time")

dta$time<-as.Date(dta$time, '%B %d, %Y')

I do not get any NA's.

I solved by setting the weekdays in English:

Sys.setlocale("LC_TIME","C") # for Unix

For Windows the following should work instead (but I cannot verify):

Sys.setlocale("LC_TIME","English") # for Windows

edited Mar 11 '17 at 07:45

answered Mar 11 '17 at 07:28

Davide Passaretti

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Thanks a lot! It worked! – Jannis Mar 11 '17 at 08:13
I am glad. If it fully answered your question, then please consider accepting it. – Davide Passaretti Mar 11 '17 at 08:47

Applying as.Date returns NA

1 Answers1