I want to combine two variables into one with a date format

Question

I have a data set with a character column for months (MONTH) and a numeric column indicating years (YEAR). In order to work with it as panel data, I ne

Answer 1

Combining Tim's response with an easy to use date package lubridate we get:

# This can handle months of JAN, FEB, ETC. Or it can handle months of 01,02,etc.
df$TIME <- lubridate::ymd(paste0(df$YEAR,df$MONTH,"01")) 

# or if you need it in MM-YYYY format:
df$TIME <- format(lubridate::ymd(paste0(df$YEAR,df$MONTH,"01")), "%m-%Y")