|
|  |
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date index][Thread index]
Re: st: RE: putting files together
At 08:01 AM 3/28/2007, Maarten L. Buis wrote:
[...]
In other words, -append- adds rows, and -merge-
adds columns.
I would say that the primary purpose of -append- is to add rows, and
the primary purpose of -merge-is to add columns, but both of these
can add both rows and columns, depending on the circumstances.
Maarten already stated some of this, but I will add my own thoughts:
To the extent that there are variables not common to both datasets,
-append- will add columns.
To the extent that there are unmatched observations, -merge- will add rows.
In a -merge-, if there are no matches at all (no _merge==3 cases),
then the results of -append- and -merge- are the same.
-merge- may possibly not add columns, if the set of variables are the
same. -append- always adds rows.
--David
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
