Example of Extract from Date/Time Data to Text Data

A manager collects monthly data and wants to create a bar chart where each bar shows the data for a quarter. To create the categorical variable Quarter, the manager extracts the quarter and year components of a date/time column and puts them in a text column.

In a column name cell, type Month Year.
Copy and paste, or type the following data into the Month Year column:

08/2014

09/2014

10/2014

11/2014

12/2014

01/2015

02/2015

03/2015
Choose Data > Date/Time > Extract to Text.
In Extract from date/time column, enter Month Year.
In Store text column in, type Quarter.
Select Quarter and Year.
Click OK.

Results

The original month and year values are in C1. The quarter text values are in C2.

C1-D	C2-T
Month Year	Quarter
08/2014	Q32014
09/2014	Q32014
10/2014	Q42014
11/2014	Q42014
12/2014	Q42014
01/2015	Q12015
02/2015	Q12015
03/2015	Q12015

The manager can now create a bar chart with Quarter as the categorical variable.

Tip

When you use a text column to create a graph (or table), the text categories are in alphabetical order by default. To change the value order, right-click the column and choose Column Properties > Value Order.