Re: st: changing values of a string variable

[Ronnie Babigumira <rb.glists@gmail.com>]

Nick, this is neat, thanks.

Tashi, this is certainly closer to what you had in mind

encode firms, gen(firm1)
replace firm1 = . if firm1 != "id_131":firm1

Ronnie 

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On Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 9:52 AM, Nick Cox wrote:

> Prakash's opening statement is incorrect. If you -encode- a string
> variable, it loses no property and indeed stays exactly as it is. What
> happens is that a numeric variable is created with value labels equal
> to the string values.
> 
> Tashi appears to be seeking something like the last line here
> 
> sysuse auto
> label def rep78 1 appalling 2 adequate 3 average 4 amazing 5 astounding
> label val rep78
> 
> . count if rep78=="average":rep78
> 30
> 
> For more, see in [U] and e.g.
> 
> SJ-4-4 dm0009 . . . . . . . Stata tip 14: Using value labels in expressions
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K. Higbee
> Q4/04 SJ 4(4):488--489 (no commands)
> tips for using value labels in expressions
> 
> Ken Higbee's paper is accessible at
> 
> http://www.stata-journal.com/sjpdf.html?articlenum=dm0009
> 
> This syntax has been in Stata a very long time. I don't use it, partly
> because I keep forgetting about it and partly because I would need to
> look it up to remember what it is, and my wild guess is that many
> experienced users would say something similar.
> 
> Nick
> 
> 
> Prakash Singh [edited slightly]
> 
> > when you -encode- any variable it loses its string property so
> > there would be numeric value corresponding to id_131 in firms1 and you
> > should use that value in your command line
> 
> 
> 
> tashi lama
> 
> > > I found matters similar to what I am going to post have been been discussed in the past but I am not sure if I understood. Here is my dataset
> > > 
> > > hits firms
> > > 3 id_6429
> > > 10 id_131
> > > 8 id_2837
> > > 
> > > 12 id_90
> 
> > > The problem is to have sth like this
> > > 
> > > hits firms
> > > 
> > > 3 .
> > > 
> > > 10 id_131
> > > 8 .
> > > 
> > > 12 .
> > > 
> > > 
> > > so I said 1. encode firm, gen(firm1)
> > > 
> > > replace firm1=. if firm1!=id_131
> > > 
> > > drop firms
> > > 
> > > I also tried 2. replace firms="" if firms!="id_131"
> 
> > > It didn't give me the expected output although I feel like my codes are correct at least in principle. Any idea?
> 
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