It seems to me that the answer here is to store the "labels" in a
separate string variable. Then you can use the short name variable or
the long name variable (ie, the "value" or the "label") as you like.
This is, I think, the direction that Nick Cox is going here.
To do this, and apply it across multiple files, first create a stata
dataset with two string variables: the short "value" variable, and a
longer, "label" variable. This should have one record per label. (You
could probably read this using -infix- directly from your SAS proc
format text file.
. clear
. infix str4 cause 2-5 str80 label 9-89 using labels.txt
(13 observations read)
(You will need to play with the column positions given your SAS PROC
FORMAT file, but this gives you the idea...)
. list
cause
label
1. A391 Waterhouse Friderichsen
syndrome'
2. A483 Toxic shock
syndrome'
3. A985 Hemorrhagic fever w renal
syndrome'
4. B222 HIV dis wasting
syndrome'
5. B230 Act HIV infect
syndrome'
6. D469 Myelodysplastic syndrome,
unspec'
7. D593 Hemolytic uremic
syndrome'
8. D65' Diseminated intravascular coagulation [defibrination
syndrome]'
9. D762 Hemophagocytic syndrome, infect
assoc'
10. D814 Nezelofs
syndrome'
11. D820 Wiskott Aldrich
syndrome'
12. D821 Di Georges
syndrome'
13. D824 Hyperimmunoglobulin E [IgE]
syndrome'
. replace label=substr(label,1,index(label,"'")-1) if
index(label,"'")
(13 real changes made)
. replace cause=substr(cause ,1,index(cause,"'")-1) if
index(cause,"'")
(1 real change made)
This gets rid of the trailing single quote characters in each
variable...
. list
cause
label
1. A391 Waterhouse Friderichsen
syndrome
2. A483 Toxic shock
syndrome
3. A985 Hemorrhagic fever w renal
syndrome
4. B222 HIV dis wasting
syndrome
5. B230 Act HIV infect
syndrome
6. D469 Myelodysplastic syndrome,
unspec
7. D593 Hemolytic uremic
syndrome
8. D65 Diseminated intravascular coagulation [defibrination
syndrome]
9. D762 Hemophagocytic syndrome, infect
assoc
10. D814 Nezelofs
syndrome
11. D820 Wiskott Aldrich
syndrome
12. D821 Di Georges
syndrome
13. D824 Hyperimmunoglobulin E [IgE]
syndrome
. sort cause
. save labelfile, replace
(note: file labelfile.dta not found)
file labelfile.dta saved
Sort on the cause variable, and save the master labelling file.
. use mydata
. sort cause
. merge cause using labelfile , nokeep
. list cause age label
cause age
label
1. A391 71 Waterhouse
Friderichsen syndrome
2. A483 32
Toxic shock syndrome
3. A985 45 Hemorrhagic fever
w renal syndrome
4. B222 85 HIV dis
wasting syndrome
5. B230 91 Act
HIV infect syndrome
6. D469 56 Myelodysplastic
syndrome, unspec
7. D593 74
Hemolytic uremic syndrome
8. D65 44 Diseminated intravascular coagulation
[defibrination syndrome]
9. D762 58 Hemophagocytic
syndrome, infect assoc
10. D814 65
Nezelofs syndrome
11. D820 69 Wiskott
Aldrich syndrome
12. D821 72 Di
Georges syndrome
13. D824 85 Hyperimmunoglobulin
E [IgE] syndrome
. table cause, c(mean age) stubwidth(40)
-----------------------------------------------------
cause | mean(age)
-----------------------------------------+-----------
A391 | 71
A483 | 32
A985 | 45
B222 | 85
B230 | 91
D469 | 56
D593 | 74
D65 | 44
D762 | 58
D814 | 65
D820 | 69
D821 | 72
D824 | 85
-----------------------------------------------------
. table label, c(mean age) stubwidth(40)
-----------------------------------------------------
label | mean(age)
-----------------------------------------+-----------
Act HIV infect syndrome | 91
Di Georges syndrome | 72
Diseminated intravascular coagulation [d | 44
HIV dis wasting syndrome | 85
Hemolytic uremic syndrome | 74
Hemophagocytic syndrome, infect assoc | 58
Hemorrhagic fever w renal syndrome | 45
Hyperimmunoglobulin E [IgE] syndrome | 85
Myelodysplastic syndrome, unspec | 56
Nezelofs syndrome | 65
Toxic shock syndrome | 32
Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome | 71
Wiskott Aldrich syndrome | 69
-----------------------------------------------------
--Nick Winter
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