Re: st: Changing labels for multiple variables at the same time

[Anna Reimondos <areimondos@gmail.com>]

Dear Michael,
Thank you so much - it works perfectly for what I want to do!
I did not realize you could do that with the dir command, but I think
it is definitely something I might use a lot in the future.
 What an excellent and elegant solution.

I am very grateful,
Anna



On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 12:02 PM, Michael Norman Mitchell
<Michael.Norman.Mitchell@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Anna
>
>  This is an awesome question... I think it really shows off one of the
> strengths of Stata because this is so easy in Stata. The key is the -label
> dir- command that gives a list of all of the value labels in memory, and
> returns that list as -r(names)- . Then, a -foreach- loop is used to loop
> across all of those names of the labels to modify them as you see fit. Here
> is an example...
>
> * use a dataset
> sysuse nlsw88
>
> * show existing labels
> label list
>
> * get list of existing labels, stored in r(names)
> label dir
>
> * go through all labels, and modify them
> foreach lab in `r(names)' {
>  label define `lab' -1 "Missing", modify
>  label define `lab' -3 "Not applicable", modify
> }
>
> * show the modified labels
> label list
>
>
>  and here is the output this generates. Note how all of the labels,
> afterward, have a value labeled for -1 and -3.
>
> . * use a dataset
> . sysuse nlsw88
> (NLSW, 1988 extract)
>
> .
> . * show existing labels
> . label list
> occlbl:
>           1 Professional/technical
>           2 Managers/admin
>           3 Sales
>           4 Clerical/unskilled
>           5 Craftsmen
>           6 Operatives
>           7 Transport
>           8 Laborers
>           9 Farmers
>          10 Farm laborers
>          11 Service
>          12 Household workers
>          13 Other
> indlbl:
>           1 Ag/Forestry/Fisheries
>           2 Mining
>           3 Construction
>           4 Manufacturing
>           5 Transport/Comm/Utility
>           6 Wholesale/Retail Trade
>           7 Finance/Ins/Real Estate
>           8 Business/Repair Svc
>           9 Personal Services
>          10 Entertainment/Rec Svc
>          11 Professional Services
>          12 Public Administration
> racelbl:
>           1 white
>           2 black
>           3 other
> marlbl:
>           0 single
>           1 married
> gradlbl:
>           0 not college grad
>           1 college grad
> smsalbl:
>           0 nonSMSA
>           1 SMSA
> unionlbl:
>           0 nonunion
>           1 union
>
> .
> . * get list of existing labels, stored in r(names)
> . label dir
> occlbl
> indlbl
> racelbl
> marlbl
> gradlbl
> smsalbl
> unionlbl
>
> .
> . * go through all labels, and modify them
> . foreach lab in `r(names)' {
>  2.   label define `lab' -1 "Missing", modify
>  3.   label define `lab' -3 "Not applicable", modify
>  4. }
>
> .
> . * show the modified labels
> . label list
> unionlbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           0 nonunion
>           1 union
> smsalbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           0 nonSMSA
>           1 SMSA
> gradlbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           0 not college grad
>           1 college grad
> marlbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           0 single
>           1 married
> racelbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           1 white
>           2 black
>           3 other
> indlbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           1 Ag/Forestry/Fisheries
>           2 Mining
>           3 Construction
>           4 Manufacturing
>           5 Transport/Comm/Utility
>           6 Wholesale/Retail Trade
>           7 Finance/Ins/Real Estate
>           8 Business/Repair Svc
>           9 Personal Services
>          10 Entertainment/Rec Svc
>          11 Professional Services
>          12 Public Administration
> occlbl:
>          -3 Not applicable
>          -1 Missing
>           1 Professional/technical
>           2 Managers/admin
>           3 Sales
>           4 Clerical/unskilled
>           5 Craftsmen
>           6 Operatives
>           7 Transport
>           8 Laborers
>           9 Farmers
>          10 Farm laborers
>          11 Service
>          12 Household workers
>          13 Other
>
> .
> end of do-file
>
> Hope that does the trick.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael N. Mitchell
> See the Stata tidbit of the week at...
> http://www.MichaelNormanMitchell.com
>
> On 2010-04-10 6.22 PM, Anna Reimondos wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>> I would like to define a some new value labels which I want to attach
>> to all existing value labels in my dataset.
>>
>> For example, I want to define among other things that  -1 is Missing,
>> and -3 is Not applicable:
>>
>> sysuse nlsw88, clear
>> label define gradlbl -1 "Missing", modify
>> label define gradlbl -3 "Not applicable", modify
>>
>> However I want to modify all the labels (a couple of hundred labels in
>> the dataset I am working on) in the same way not just gradlbl.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a way to do this? I tried using the extended macro
>> functions but without much luck.
>>
>> Thanks very much,
>> Anna
>> *
>> *   For searches and help try:
>> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
>> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
>> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>>
>
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>

*
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