Why won't this column convert to date format in R?

Asked Jan 12 '21 at 20:02

Active Jan 12 '21 at 20:06

Viewed 291 times

Suppose we have the following data frame:

date
<character>
Jan-2020
Feb-2020

When I try the following code to convert the column from character to date, I get the error: character string is not in a standard unambiguous format.

df$date <- as.Date(df$date)

Can anyone suggest why?

asked Jan 12 '21 at 20:02

Check the as.Date function. You need to specify a format, probably sth. like `format = "%b-%Y` – deschen Jan 12 '21 at 20:02
Thanks, but `df$date <- as.Date(df$date, format = "%b-%Y")` doesn't work either - any ideas why? – Jan 12 '21 at 20:04
Hmm, I see. NOt sure why. Let me check. – deschen Jan 12 '21 at 20:07
Thanks, much appreciated – Jan 12 '21 at 20:08
Ah, because you need a day to create a date variable. – deschen Jan 12 '21 at 20:08
Is there no way to make it a date variable without? Or some solution that would work? – Jan 12 '21 at 20:12
@HelpNeeded4 Take a look at the [`anytime`](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/anytime/index.html) package. – markus Jan 12 '21 at 20:14

Why won't this column convert to date format in R?

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