Hello All,
I am using Stata S/E 9.1 for Macintosh.
This question concerns the issue of retaining data precision, as it were,
when -insheeting- data into Stata from a .csv file and, conversely, when
exporting data from Stata via -outsheet-.
Suppose I have an Excel file that contains large numbers that are
presented as scientific notation. Further suppose that I save said Excel
file as a comma-delimited file (.csv) then import into Stata via
-insheet-, along w/ the double option. After the insheet, an examination
of the data indicates that some degree of precision has been lost --
rounding -- even after the variables have been reformatted to reflect the
length & desired format (e.g. %20.2fc). One clumsy workaround for this
problem involves changing the numeric variable to string via the insertion
of commas into the values, -insheet-ing, then -destring-ing the variable
back into a numeric variable. As noted, this seems like a terribly
cumbersome and clumsy solution -- any suggested alternatives (e.g. using
an alternative to -insheet-)??
On the flip side, i.e. -outsheet-ing the data back into a .csv file, is it
necessary to format any numeric variables into non-scientific notation
format so as to retain the actual values of the variables?
I browsed the statalist archives and although there are multiple threads
that discuss this topic, I was unable to find anything w/ this particular
angle. I also browsed the online- and print-documentation, but to little
avail.
Many thanks in advance,
Clint
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