Sometimes, when I save a dataset in a temporary file and then immediately reload it, my value label disappears. Can anyone explain why?
This does not always happen; in a toy dataset (below the first example) the value label is not dropped.
(I am using Stata 10.1.)
. 
. label list QOL
QOL:
           1 PhysicalFunctioning
           2 RolePhysical
           3 BodilyPain
           4 GeneralHealth
           5 Vitality
           6 SocialFunctioning
           7 RoleEmotional
           8 MentalHealth
           9 Physical
          10 Mental
. tempfile TMPOUT
. save `TMPOUT', replace
(note: file /var/folders/HR/HRdt7XjbGC4gfgEM2M7yWE+++TM/-Tmp-//S_51906.00004u not found)
file /var/folders/HR/HRdt7XjbGC4gfgEM2M7yWE+++TM/-Tmp-//S_51906.00004u saved
. use `TMPOUT', clear
. des, short
Contains data from 
/var/folders/HR/HRdt7XjbGC4gfgEM2M7yWE+++TM/-Tmp-//S_51906.00004u
  obs:           366
 vars:           215                          5 Oct 2009 14:37
 size:       455,304 (95.7% of memory free)
Sorted by:  Total_Biopsy_Count  PID  Biopsy
. label list QOL
value label QOL not found
r(111);
. 
. clear
. 
. input x
             x
  1. 1
  2. 3
  3. 1
  4. end
. 
. label define x 1 "one" 3 "three"
. label values x x
. label list x
x:
           1 one
           3 three
. tempfile TEMP
. save `TEMP', replace
(note: file /var/folders/HR/HRdt7XjbGC4gfgEM2M7yWE+++TM/-Tmp-//S_51906.00004w 
not found)
file /var/folders/HR/HRdt7XjbGC4gfgEM2M7yWE+++TM/-Tmp-//S_51906.00004w saved
. use `TEMP', clear
. label list x
x:
           1 one
           3 three
.
Thanks for any insight
Jacob A. Wegelin
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Virginia Commonwealth University
730 East Broad Street Room 3006
P. O. Box 980032
Richmond VA 23298-0032
U.S.A. 
E-mail: [email protected] 
URL: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jwegelin
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