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st: extract portion of variable name to use in variable label


From   Andy Baxter <[email protected]>
To   [email protected]
Subject   st: extract portion of variable name to use in variable label
Date   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:26:35 -0400

I have a large data set in which the variable names reflect the subject and metric of a specific test, e.g., a_alg1_ss is the "Algebra 1 Scale Score."
All of the variable names have a common structure: a prefix of a_, a test identifier string, and a suffix of _[metric of test, e.g., al for achievement level or ss for scale score].
The current variable labels reflect the test metric, but not the test identifier.

Here is a subset of the variables:

. describe a_alg1_ss a_alg1_al a_alg1rt1_ss a_alg1rt1_al

storage display value
variable name type format label variable label
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a_alg1_ss int %8.0g Scalescore
a_alg1_al byte %8.0g Achievement Level
a_alg1rt1_ss int %8.0g Scalescore
a_alg1rt1_al byte %8.0g Achievement Level

I am trying to write syntax that will extract the test identifier from the variable name and insert it into the variable label. I would like to wind up with:

variable name variable label
a_alg1_ss alg1 Scalescore
a_alg1_al alg1 Achievement Level
a_alg1rt1_ss alg1rt Scalescore
a_alg1rt1_al alg1rt Achievement Level

My Stata version is:
.about
Stata/SE 9.2 for Windows
Born 20 Jul 2007

Thanks for your consideration.
--
Andy Baxter
Center for Research & Evaluation
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
980.343.1603 (phone)
980.343.6660 (fax)



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