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help for ^destring^                (STB-37: dm45; STB-49: dm45.1; STB-52: dm45.2)
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Changing string variables to numeric
------------------------------------

    ^destring^ [varlist] [, ^noc^onvert ^noe^ncode ^f^loat ]


Description
-----------

^destring^ changes string variables to numeric whenever that can be
done without loss of data. `Numeric' means the most compact numeric data
type possible.

If ^destring^ is allowed to convert, values of string variables that
when trimmed of any leading or trailing blanks are either "" (empty
string) or "." are regarded as numeric missing (.) when an attempt is
made to convert string variables into numeric.

If ^destring^ is allowed to encode, a string variable will be
overwritten by a numeric variable containing integer codes if ^encode^
would create a new numeric variable from that string variable and no
values of the variable may be interpreted as pure numbers.

The default is to attempt both conversion and encoding: either can be
forbidden by the options ^noconvert^ and ^noencode^.

In either case, numeric variables are unchanged.

If called with a varlist, ^destring^ will issue a warning about each
variable in the varlist that cannot be changed. If called without a
varlist, no such warnings will be issued.

In either case, ^destring^ reports on any changes from string to any
numeric type.


Options
-------

^noconvert^ forbids ^destring^ from converting string variables to
    numeric variables.

^noencode^ forbids ^destring^ from encoding string variables to
    integer-coded variables.

^float^ means that the numeric variable version of any converted string
    variable starts out in life as a ^float^. (The default is ^double^.)


Examples
--------

    . ^destring^
    . ^qui destring^
    . ^destring y^
    . ^destring y, float^
    . ^destring, noconvert^
    . ^destring, noencode^


Authors
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        Nicholas J. Cox, University of Durham, U.K.
        n.j.cox@@durham.ac.uk

        William W. Gould, Stata Corporation
        wgould@@stata.com


Also see
--------

    STB:  STB-37 dm45
On-line:  help for @encode@, @functions@, @recast@