Re: st: Changing labels for multiple variables at the same time

[Michael Norman Mitchell <Michael.Norman.Mitchell@gmail.com>]

Dear Anna

  This is an awesome question... I think it really shows off one of the 
strengths of Stata because this is so easy in Stata. The key is the 
-label dir- command that gives a list of all of the value labels in 
memory, and returns that list as -r(names)- . Then, a -foreach- loop is 
used to loop across all of those names of the labels to modify them as 
you see fit. Here is an example...
* use a dataset
sysuse nlsw88

* show existing labels
label list

* get list of existing labels, stored in r(names)
label dir

* go through all labels, and modify them
foreach lab in `r(names)' {
  label define `lab' -1 "Missing", modify
  label define `lab' -3 "Not applicable", modify
}

* show the modified labels
label list


  and here is the output this generates. Note how all of the labels, 
afterward, have a value labeled for -1 and -3.
. * use a dataset
. sysuse nlsw88
(NLSW, 1988 extract)

.
. * show existing labels
. label list
occlbl:
           1 Professional/technical
           2 Managers/admin
           3 Sales
           4 Clerical/unskilled
           5 Craftsmen
           6 Operatives
           7 Transport
           8 Laborers
           9 Farmers
          10 Farm laborers
          11 Service
          12 Household workers
          13 Other
indlbl:
           1 Ag/Forestry/Fisheries
           2 Mining
           3 Construction
           4 Manufacturing
           5 Transport/Comm/Utility
           6 Wholesale/Retail Trade
           7 Finance/Ins/Real Estate
           8 Business/Repair Svc
           9 Personal Services
          10 Entertainment/Rec Svc
          11 Professional Services
          12 Public Administration
racelbl:
           1 white
           2 black
           3 other
marlbl:
           0 single
           1 married
gradlbl:
           0 not college grad
           1 college grad
smsalbl:
           0 nonSMSA
           1 SMSA
unionlbl:
           0 nonunion
           1 union

.
. * get list of existing labels, stored in r(names)
. label dir
occlbl
indlbl
racelbl
marlbl
gradlbl
smsalbl
unionlbl

.
. * go through all labels, and modify them
. foreach lab in `r(names)' {
  2.   label define `lab' -1 "Missing", modify
  3.   label define `lab' -3 "Not applicable", modify
  4. }

.
. * show the modified labels
. label list
unionlbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           0 nonunion
           1 union
smsalbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           0 nonSMSA
           1 SMSA
gradlbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           0 not college grad
           1 college grad
marlbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           0 single
           1 married
racelbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           1 white
           2 black
           3 other
indlbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           1 Ag/Forestry/Fisheries
           2 Mining
           3 Construction
           4 Manufacturing
           5 Transport/Comm/Utility
           6 Wholesale/Retail Trade
           7 Finance/Ins/Real Estate
           8 Business/Repair Svc
           9 Personal Services
          10 Entertainment/Rec Svc
          11 Professional Services
          12 Public Administration
occlbl:
          -3 Not applicable
          -1 Missing
           1 Professional/technical
           2 Managers/admin
           3 Sales
           4 Clerical/unskilled
           5 Craftsmen
           6 Operatives
           7 Transport
           8 Laborers
           9 Farmers
          10 Farm laborers
          11 Service
          12 Household workers
          13 Other

.
end of do-file

Hope that does the trick.

Best regards,

Michael N. Mitchell
See the Stata tidbit of the week at...
http://www.MichaelNormanMitchell.com

On 2010-04-10 6.22 PM, Anna Reimondos wrote:
> Hello,
> I would like to define a some new value labels which I want to attach
> to all existing value labels in my dataset.
>
> For example, I want to define among other things that  -1 is Missing,
> and -3 is Not applicable:
>
> sysuse nlsw88, clear
> label define gradlbl -1 "Missing", modify
> label define gradlbl -3 "Not applicable", modify
>
> However I want to modify all the labels (a couple of hundred labels in
> the dataset I am working on) in the same way not just gradlbl.
>
> Does anyone know of a way to do this? I tried using the extended macro
> functions but without much luck.
>
> Thanks very much,
> Anna
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