What is the best way to achieve the following in stata? I have a
reasonably complex logical test and number of new variables to generate
as a result of applying the test. Here is a minimal example. The real
problem is more complex, but this captures the spirit:
gen var1 = 1 if fpi == "big"
gen var2 = 1 if fpi == "big"
replace var1 = 2 if fpi == "small"
replace var2 == 12 if fpi =="small"
Repeating the condition seems inefficient especially if it was very
complex (it is) and if I have to create many new variables (I do). I was
thinking some like this:
if fpi == "big" {
gen var1 = 1
gen var2 = 1
}
if fpi == "small {
replace var1 = 2
replace var2 = 12
}
Not much of a saving in this example, but in a more complex problem the
saving would, I think, be measurable. However, I know from
experimentation and from a previous thread that this code does not work
as expected. Is there a solution or should I should I just use the first
coding style? Thanks in advance.
