Re: st: generating number list depending on another variable

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

A fair amount of puzzlement in this thread, but some notes in addition
to those so far.

-egen-'s -fill()- function is quite unsuited to what you want to do.
It pays no attention to any other variable. It would be a good answer
by coincidence if and only if each group had the same number of
observations. That's not true for your example.

-egen-'s -group()- function can be valuable here, although as applied
to single -str- variables, it does just what -encode- does, so long as
you apply the -label- option too.

Nick
njcoxstata@gmail.com


On 19 March 2014 15:20, Joe Canner <jcanner1@jhmi.edu> wrote:
> The solution (whether converting to 1-100 or 2345-2434) should be quite simple, but you need to tell us what you have done so far.  For example, what did the variable look like when it was a string?  What did you do to convert it to numeric?  What does it look like now?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Patricia Biedermann
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 11:17 AM
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: st: generating number list depending on another variable
>
> It was a string and is now numeric (I also needed it numeric for other
> analysis).
> Anyway, I will see if I find a solution. I just need to create a new
> variable with new ID numbers, not necessarily from 1-100, but e.g.
> 2345-2434;
>
> Variable1    Variable2
> AL                2345
> AL                2345
> BS                2355
> BS                2355
> BS                2355
> SF                2356
> etc.
> Sorry for my blurry communication.
>
> On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 4:03 PM, Richard Goldstein
> <richgold@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> you should not be using -egen- at all as far as I can see
>>
>> you have now contradicted yourself (is variable 1 numeric or string?) so
>> maybe someone else can help you
>>
>> Rich
>>
>> On 3/19/14, 10:58 AM, Patricia Biedermann wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> -decode seems not to work with string variables. So I used encode.
>>> - When I  generate variable2  with egen variable2=fill(1(1)100) I get
>>> this result:
>>>
>>> Variable 1                                Variable 2
>>> AL                                             1
>>> AL                                             2
>>> AL                                             3
>>> BS                                             4
>>> BS                                             5
>>> BS                                             6
>>> BS                                             7
>>> BS                                             8
>>> SF                                             9
>>> SF                                             10
>>> ZG                                            11
>>> etc                                            etc.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 3:52 PM, Richard Goldstein
>>> <richgold@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>>> then -decode- it is one option
>>>>
>>>> however, if it is already numeric doesn't it already meet what you want?
>>>> if not, what is wrong with it?
>>>>
>>>> Rich
>>>>
>>>> On 3/19/14, 10:49 AM, Patricia Biedermann wrote:
>>>>> Hi Richard,
>>>>> Thanks for your reply. Variable 1 is already encoded....it's a long
>>>>> variable now.
>>>>> Pati
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 3:43 PM, Richard Goldstein
>>>>> <richgold@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>>>>> it looks like variable 1 is a string variable so you want the -encode-
>>>>>> command; when you read the help file, pay attention to the "label" option
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Rich
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 3/19/14, 10:34 AM, Patricia Biedermann wrote:
>>>>>>> Dear all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Following problem:
>>>>>>> I have variable1 with different values (AL, BS, SF, ZK...etc.) and
>>>>>>> want to create another variable with a list of numbers reaching from
>>>>>>> e.g. 1-100;
>>>>>>> For each value in variable1 there should be the same number in
>>>>>>> variable2; it should look like that in the end:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Variable 1                                Variable 2
>>>>>>> AL                                             1
>>>>>>> AL                                             1
>>>>>>> AL                                             1
>>>>>>> BS                                             2
>>>>>>> BS                                             2
>>>>>>> BS                                             2
>>>>>>> BS                                             2
>>>>>>> BS                                             2
>>>>>>> SF                                             3
>>>>>>> SF                                             3
>>>>>>> ZG                                             4
>>>>>>> etc                                            etc.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I tried to use egen variable2=fill(1(1)100) also in combination with
>>>>>>> foreach; somehow generates values from 1-100 independently from
>>>>>>> Variable 1

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