AW: st: Create variable as a copy of a dynamically calculated second variable

["Wiemann, Markus" <m.wiemann@fs.de>]

Eric,

Thank you for your quick reply.
I guess you are right and I did not make my intention really clear.

My code example was pseudo-code which was not intended to work like that in Stata. What I want - expressed in Stata code - is the following:

. gen newvariable = .
. replace newvariable = value2001 if firstyear == 2000
. replace newvariable = value2002 if firstyear == 2001
Etc



I know this could be done in a loop, but in the future I might also need it with alphabetic variables like in the following (of course, in this case, without adding 1 to the value in firstyear):
********
clear
inp str3 first valueABC valueDEF valueGHI valueJKL 
ABC 2 3 4 5 
DEF 1 1 1 1 
GHI 8 8 8 8 
JKL 9 9 9 9 
end
gen newvariable = .
replace newvariable = valueABC if strmatch(first, "ABC")
replace newvariable = valueDEF if strmatch(first, "DEF") 
replace newvariable = valueGHI if strmatch(first, "GHI")
replace newvariable = valueJKL if strmatch(first, "JKL") 
*********


So, in my case, it would be easiest to somehow tell Stata that I want it to copy the value which is stored in the variable named "valueXYZ" with XYZ whatever the value of firstyear is. 
Do you know what I mean? Is this possible like that?



Markus



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] Im Auftrag von Eric Booth
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 9. September 2010 14:49
An: <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu>
Betreff: Re: st: Create variable as a copy of a dynamically calculated second variable

<>

It isn't clear what you want.  You mention "read"ing the value out of variable "Value2006" if "firstyear"=="Value2005", but your code to generate "newvariable" doesn't include anything about "value2006" .
Furthermore,  "Value[String(FirstYear + 1)] "    doesnt make any sense.    "Value()" is not a function.   
This is likely pseudo-code meaning something like  "Value2006 * (FirstYear +1)" and you want to run it if "firstyear==value2005" (?)  ((Not sure why you included string() either.))
If my interpretation of your pseudo-code is right, here's a way to do that:

****************!
clear
inp first value2000 value2001 value2002 value2003 value2004 value2005 value2006
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
end

g myvalue = value2006 if first==value2005
g newvariable = myvalue*(first + 1)
li first value2005-newvariable


//or you can reshape it long and use subscripting//
g i = _n
rename first value1  //note that I've renamed "first"
drop myvalue newvariable
reshape long value, i(i) j(year) 
bys i:  g newvariable = value * (value[1]+1) if year==2006 & value[1]==value[5]
li year value newvariable if !mi(newvariable)
****************!


Eric
__
Eric A. Booth
Public Policy Research Institute
Texas A&M University
ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu


On Sep 9, 2010, at 4:32 AM, Wiemann, Markus wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I am not sure whether the following is possible in Stata and, if yes,
> how to address the problem.
> 
> I want to assign a new variable a value that is already stored in a
> second variable. The problem is that I need a value of a variable that
> is calculated dynamically. Let me explain it in a short example: Assume
> I have the following variables:
> 
> FirstYear
> Value2000
> Value2001
> Value2002
> ...
> Value2010
> 
> 
> What I need is something like 
> . gen NewVariable = Value[String(FirstYear + 1)] 
> that would read the value out of Value2006 if FirstYear had the value
> 2005. Is this possible in Stata? Would I need to write a macro for that?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks and best regards
> Markus
> 
> 
> 
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