Re: st: -reshape- and variable names involving zero (0)

[Richard Williams <richardwilliams.ndu@gmail.com>]

At 03:43 PM 10/27/2013, Roberto Ferrer wrote:
> This derived from
>
> http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-10/msg00949.html
>
> The following does not give the result I would expect:
>
> *------------------------ begin code ----------------------------------------
> clear
> input id str4 ticker str20 type return06 return07 return08
> 1 "ABCB" "formation" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 2 "AEDU" "formation" 0.02 0.4 0.5
> 3 "AMBV" "formation" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 1 "ABCB" "buysell" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 2 "AEDU" "buysell" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 3 "AMBV" "buysell" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 1 "ABCB" "holding" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 2 "AEDU" "holding" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> 3 "AMBV" "holding" 0.01 0.2 0.3
> end
>
> reshape long return, i(id type) j(period)
> list
> *--------------------- end code 
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> In the output I can see:
>
> xij variables:
>                 return6 return7 return8   ->   return
>
> which I believe should be:
>
> return06 return07 return08
>
> Notice the zeros are cropped out.
>
> If I rename return06, return07, return08 to
> return16, return17, return18, the code returns what I expect.
>
> What am I missing? What's the problem with the original names
> and -reshape- ?

You also get this warning message:

. reshape long return, i(id type) j(period)
(note: j = 6 7 8)
(note: return6 not found)
(note: return7 not found)
(note: return8 not found)

I think Stata just doesn't like leading zeroes in the names. I can 
see where leading zeros would be a problem. Suppose you had both 
return6 and return06 in your data. What is Stata supposed to do with them?

Somebody else may correct me, but I think you just need to avoid 
leading zeros in your variable names, e.g. rename your vars return6, 
return7 and return8. It works fine for me when I do that.

-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
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EMAIL:  Richard.A.Williams.5@ND.Edu
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