thanks to nick and jeph for their suggestions.
nick - i wish i have thought about your generate and replace (a simple solution, yet elusive to me!). certainly appreciate your other pointers too.
jeph - thanks for the one-liner irecode. i do not have my [P] with me at the moment but quick check with my [R] i note that this function was not documented or referred to but nevertheless worked in my Stata 8.2 for my problem.
regards,
bw
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