Re: st: RE: RE: Corrected Creating multiple observations from mixed observation?

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

I'd repeat my advice to bounce the data back to sender as a file
corrupted in one way is likely to be corrupted in other ways.

Otherwise, the following code shows some technique:

clear
input str30 Name double(Price1	Price2	Price3) 		
"Sedan 4D" 26290	1225	1750		
"Sedan 4D S Quattro Sedan 4D"	2918532665	14002250	22002750
end
gen islong = length(string(Price1, "%12.0f")) >= 10
expand 2 if islong
sort Name
gen work = ""
forval j = 1/3 {
	replace work = string(Price`j', "%25.0f")
by Name : gen price`j' = real(substr(work,1, length(work)/2)) if
islong & _n == 1
by Name : replace price`j' = real(substr(work,1 + length(work)/2,.))
if islong &  _n == 2
replace price`j' = Price`j' if !islong
}
drop work
l

I would call this kind of data management tricky even for very
experienced Stata users. Note that I have no idea how to fix doubled
up names as your example doesn't indicate to me how they should be
parsed.


On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 1:32 PM, Greenland, Andrew N
<agreenla@purdue.edu> wrote:
> Nick,
>
> This is roughly the pattern.  Occasionally the second line will read before the first, etc.
> Assuming I can identify which pattern goes where, How do I insert a new blank observation and fill it with the
> extracted info.
>
> Andrew
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox [njcoxstata@gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 2:41 AM
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: st: RE: RE: Corrected Creating multiple observations from mixed observation?
>
> Your example implies that some lines of data are as wished and some
> are not. Also, your example seems to contradict your pattern. This
> might be fixable by some programming, or you might be better advised
> to go back to your source and indicate that the data structure is a
> mess.
>
> Nick
>
> On 21 Sep 2011, at 02:56, "Greenland, Andrew N" <agreenla@purdue.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Yes,
>>
>> They're attached in a .txt file
>>
>> Thanks for the help!
>> ________________________________________
>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [owner-
>> statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Kieran McCaul
>> [Kieran.McCaul@uwa.edu.au]
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 7:09 PM
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: st: RE: Corrected Creating multiple observations from mixed
>> observation?
>>
>> ...
>>
>> Can you provide a couple lines of real data?
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Greenland,
>> Andrew N
>> Sent: Wednesday, 21 September 2011 6:04 AM
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: st: Corrected Creating multiple observations from mixed
>> observation?
>>
>> I need to insert a new observation into the dataset I am working on.
>> Multiple row's from a spreadsheet have been read into the same column
>> and I need to separate them and insert them into the dataset.
>>
>> The data should Look as follows:
>> var1        var2        var3
>> NAME1    Price1      Price2
>> NAME2    Price3      Price4
>>
>> Instead they look take on a pattern like this:
>> var1                        var2                     var3
>> NAME1NAME2                Price1Price3               Price2Price4
>>

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