Austin Nichols asked a similar question
privately. And his answer given publicly
(which I did not read until I had posted mine)
also raised warnings about various
aspects of the problem, just as you rightly do.
I wrote that line of code knowing that var1 and var2 might be
both not missing, but different; or both not missing,
and the same. I don't think Nora specified what she wanted for those
situations.
In the absence of rules, missing (don't
know) is an appropriate answer. This is Stata's
attitude, and that was mine here.
A more complete answer might be
gen newvar =
cond(missing(var1), var2,
cond(missing(var2), var1,
cond(var1 == var2, var1,
. )))
That way missing is returned if
both variables are missing or
if both variables are non-missing but different.
Nick
[email protected]
Sergiy Radyakin
> Why would one need "if missing(var1, var2)" ?
>
> gen newvar=max(var1,var2)
>
> produces the same result, unless:
>
> Ambiguity exists, since Paswel Phiri Marenya wanted to "combine the
> variables in such a way that the data from one variable can
> replace the
> missing values from the other". It is as above if the
> situation of both
> non-missings is impossible (say, by way the variables are
> created). If,
> however, it is possible, then NGC's solution will yield new
> missings, which
> contradicts "data ... replace the missings". So because of
> the way the
> question is formulated, and because it's not known if both
> variables may
> have non-missings, you may wish to consider this code:
>
> gen newvar=var1
> replace newvar=var2 if var1==.
Nick Cox
> > Some very complicated solutions here!
> >
> > Consider:
> >
> > gen newvar = max(var1, var2) if missing(var1, var2)
> >
> > Logic:
> >
> > If just one of var1 or var2 is missing,
> > then -missing()- will return true.
> >
> > In that case, max(var1, var2) will
> > return the non-missing value in question.
> >
> > If both are missing, then you get missing returned,
> > but that is fair enough.
> >
> > If neither is missing, missing is returned.
> > Paswel Phiri Marenya
> >
> >> What to me is easier is something like:
> >>
> >> gen var3 = var2
> >> then replace var3=var1 in 4/5 and so on...although with a
> >> long data set it
> >> may be tedious perhaps.
> >> regrads
> >> PPm
> >>
> >> > Thank you to everyone who answered my last question on
> >> > creating a variable corresponding to the row number.
> >> >
> >> > Now I have a question about combining the data from two
> >> > variables (in the same data set) into one variable. I want to
> >> > combine the variables in such a way that the data from one
> >> > variable can replace the missing values from the other. I have
> >> > created an example of what I am looking for below:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Have: Want:
> >> > var1 var2 newvar
> >> > . 2 2
> >> > . 8 8
> >> > . 0 0
> >> > 7 . 7
> >> > 3 . 3
> >> > . . .
> >> >
> >> > Any thoughts on how to do this?
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