Re: st: "Label define" syntax for "all other values"

[Ronan Conroy <rconroy@rcsi.ie>]

On 24 MFómh 2010, at 11:52, Nick Cox wrote:

> The straight answer is that -label define- does not offer the syntax  
> imagined. In addition to Eric's strategy, another is
>
> clonevar rr_job2 = rr_job
> replace rr_job2 = 5 if !inlist(rr_job, 1, 2, 3, 4)
> label def rr_job2 1 "Driver" 2 "Conductor" 3 "Brakeman" 4 "Fireman"  
> 5 "Stata user"
> label val rr_job2 rr_job2
>
> -recode- is here naturally an alternative to -replace-.

I was also asked this question the other day, by a SAS user. It seems  
to me that if you are allowed to label 'all other values' with a  
single label, this will require a pass through the data every time the  
variable has to be displayed to create a new variable which groups  
together the required values, slowing processing, perhaps  
significantly. This seems less efficient than simply recoding the  
variable and leaving it accessible in the dataset.



Ronán Conroy
Associate Professor
Division of Population Health Sciences
=================================

rconroy@rcsi.ie
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Epidemiology Department,
Beaux Lane House, Dublin 2, Ireland
+353 (0)1 402 2431
+353 (0)87 799 97 95
+353 (0)1 402 2764 (Fax - remember them?)
http://rcsi.academia.edu/RonanConroy

P    Before printing, think about the environment





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