st: Identifying complicated varlist for foreach loop

[Kyle Peyton <kyle.peyton@unimelb.edu.au>]

Hi all,

I have a very large dataset with some variables that I suspect have matching observations. I want to test this expectation and eliminate superfluous variables.

Essentially, I have two groups. In group 1, all variables have a prefix of "v". So we might have Vpen, Vshirt, Vfrog, etc. Let's assume I have 100 variables in group 1, all of them having this prefix "v"

In group 2,  I have approximately 250 variables. Of those 250 variables, 100 variables are the same as those in group 1, minus the prefix. The other 150 I am certain are different. So we would have pen, shirt and frog, etc. My expectation (hope) is that this is the case and then I will be able to simply drop the variables with the "v" prefix from my dataset. 

Is there a way to identify the SUFFIX of everything with a v PREFIX and then define that as a list? Then I'm thinking I can create a loop along these lines:

Foreach x in varlist (this is the varlist of my 100 important variables, my non-prefixed pens and frogs, etc.) 
Assert `x' = v`x' (assuming this  RHS works !) 

This could be the completely wrong logic, however. 

Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Kyle


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