Re: st: Importing data into Stata

[Richard Goldstein <richgold@ix.netcom.com>]

use the -split- command on your three variables; then use the substr function 
to strip off the parentheses from the year variable

Rich

b. water wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Stata 8.2 Window XP Pro SP2.
>
> I want to import into Stata a data set saved as a text file, which 
> contained data in the following structure:
>
> Abrams (1999)    0/31    5/232
> Greenland (1996)    115/2131    123/8751
> Di Arozio (1999)    4/12    21/483
>
> i.e. authors space year (in bracket) tab number nospace forward/slash 
> nospace number tab number nospace forward/slash nospace number. I want 
> to end up with six columns of variables in Stata i.e. authors year 
> (without brackets) number number number number.
>
> I am at lost as to what to do with what looks like a very structured 
> data set and should be able to be accomplished without difficulty. I 
> checked [U] 24 Commands to input data and [R] infile, infix and insheet 
> for help but without success.
>
> I tried to copy and paste into stata editor and ended up with three 
> columns of variable i.e. authors and years, number/number and 
> number/number. In this situation, I do not know how (beyond me - to 
> create a do-file) to 'clean' the data e.g. 'demerging' authors and years 
> from one column to two columns and likewise for number/number from one 
> column to number number in two separate columns.
>
> Would be grateful for any help and advice.
>
> Kind regards,
> bw
>
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