st: Assigning values from a list

[marietherese.kelly@flinders.edu.au]

Hi All,
I was wondering if someone would help me with a basic programming questions.

I have 4 variables that are basically DSM codes and I would like to search
through those codes.

I would like to define lists of diseases and then pick which cases have those
diseases

So instead of writing 

gen virus=(var1==53.20) |(var1==54.42) |(var1==54.43) | /*
*/ (var1==76.00) |(var1==76.90) 

replace virus=((var2==53.20) |(var2==54.42) |(var2==54.43) | /*
*/ (var2==76.00) |(var2==76.90)) if virus==.

replace virus=((var3==53.20) |(var3==54.42) |(var3==54.43) | /*
*/ (var3==76.00) |(var3==76.90)) if virus==.

replace virus=((var4==53.20) |(var4==54.42) |(var4==54.43) | /*
*/ (var4==76.00) |(var4==76.90)) if virus==.


Repeat for several other categories of diseases - ends up with very long and
confusing code.


Is there a way of defining a list eg virus={53.20, 54.42, 54.43, 76.00, 76.90}

and checking to see whether var1-4 have values in the list?

Thanks in advance.


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