st: destringing values led to Stata recoding them as missing
Date
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:44:36 -0400
Dear Statalisters;
I have seven variables of over 300,000 observations each. Within each
variable, I have over 2000 different values. These datapoints
represent specific codes - for example : (72200 = intervertebral disc
disorder). Within each of these seven variables, there are datapoints
(values) with dashes or alphabets (Ie: 4109- or V2389). The majority
of the values though, are purely numeric (23405). I used the destring
option so that I could analyze the data and Stata treated all those
datapoints that included dashes and alphabets as missing. Now there is a
period . where there used to be a value. I have two questions:
1. Will the restring option restore the datapoints?
2. How can I successfully "destring" these values so that I can include
them in my analysis?
Any help and/or specific code would be very helpful as I am only
marginally competent with Stata basics.
