--- Friedrich Huebler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Assume I have a dataset with the variables year1, year2, ..., year19,
> year20.
>
> forval i = 1/20 {
> gen year`i' = 1
> }
>
> The command -aorder- sorts the variables in ascending order of the
> number that follows "year". The technical note in [D] order explains
> that this is by design, "even though to most computer programs,
> year10 is alphabetically between year1 and year2."
>
> There are cases where I would like the variables to be sorted in
> strict alphabetical order, like this:
>
> year1
> year10
> ...
> year19
> year2
> year20
> year3
> ...
> year9
>
> Any suggestions on how this can be done without specifying the sort
> order with -order-? It would be nice to have an option like -aorder,
> strict- that does not try to be as smart as the current version of
> -aorder-.
You can combine two tricks to do what you want, first the command
-unab- will put a unabreviated variable list in a local, e.g.
-unab s : year*- will make a local `s' containing year1 year2 ...
year20. Than you can use an extended macro function to sort this list
strictly alphebatically, e.g. -local s : list sort s- will replace the
local `s' with year1 year10 year2 ... year9. Than you can issue a
command -sort `s'- See the example below and -help unab- and
-help macrolists-:
*---------------- begin example ----------------
sysuse nslw88, clear
tab grade, gen(ed)
unab s: ed*
di "`s'"
local s : list sort s
di "`s'"
order `s'
*----------------- end example -----------------
(For more on how to use examples I sent to the Statalist, see
http://home.fsw.vu.nl/m.buis/stata/exampleFAQ.html )
Hope this helps,
Maarten
-----------------------------------------
Maarten L. Buis
Department of Social Research Methodology
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Boelelaan 1081
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
visiting address:
Buitenveldertselaan 3 (Metropolitan), room Z434
+31 20 5986715
http://home.fsw.vu.nl/m.buis/
-----------------------------------------
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