st: still having problems with converting string variables

[Suzy <scott_788@wowway.com>]

Dear Statalisters,

I have a number of string variables in my dataset. Within these string 
variables are observations that are coded with either  numeric 
categorical values coded like this: (4010, 40120) or with dashes (4010-, 
4012-) meaning that these four codes represent four different things. 
Each string variable has hundreds of different categories that are coded 
in this manner.  I'm trying to convert  the string variables to numeric 
and  also be able to retain analysing the observations that the contain 
dashes.

I've tried various destringing options such as these listed below with 
the following STATA response.:

.destring dxcode1, generate(dxcode1num)
dxcode1 contains non-numeric characters; no generate

.destring dxcode1, replace
dxcode1 contains non-numeric characters; no replace

I've e-mailed once before on this topic, so I apologize in advance for 
the redundant question, but I'm still having trouble and I'm not 
computer/STATA savvy. If anyone has some beginner user-friendly advice 
with explicit coding, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Suzy


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