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Re: st: replace part of string variable
From
Keith Dear <[email protected]>
To
[email protected]
Subject
Re: st: replace part of string variable
Date
Thu, 9 Jun 2011 12:16:28 +1000
Sorry, I see Nick already answered this -- emails out of order in
gmail for some reason.
At least we gave the same answer!
On 9 June 2011 12:13, Keith Dear <[email protected]> wrote:
> Does this do it?
>
> replace dob="30"+substr(dob,3,6) if substr(dob,1,2)=="**"
> replace dob=substr(dob,1,2)+"06"+substr(dob,5,4) if substr(dob,3,2)=="**"
>
> (why 30 not 15, btw?)
>
>
> On 9 June 2011 04:34, raoul reulen <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hello
>>
>> I want to replace a specific character (let's say: **) of a string
>> variable, but only if it is in a certain position. I have a string
>> variable for date of birth (dob) and some of the month values and some
>> of the day values are unknown and have been substituted by an
>> asterisk, like:
>>
>> dob (day, month, year)
>> "01**1978"
>> "04**1987"
>> "**011977"
>> "03**1978"
>>
>> Now, I want to replace the first two characters with the value "30" if
>> the first two values are an asterisk, the 3th and 4th with "06" if
>> they are an asterisk etc. Now, I can obviously split the variable
>> into 3 components like below, but I am sure there is an easier way. Is
>> this a job for "regexm"? I looked into "subinstr" as well, and
>> although I can replace the asterisks, it seems to be independent of
>> the position/location the asterisks are in.
>>
>> *---example---*
>> .gen str4 dobyear = substr(dob, 5, 4)
>> .gen str2 dobmth = substr(dob,3,2)
>> .gen str2 dobday = substr(dob,1,2)
>>
>> .replace dobmth = "06" if dobmth=="**"
>> .replace dobday = "30" if dobday=="**"
>> *-----end example------*
>>
>> Any help appreciated!
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Raoul
>> *
>> * For searches and help try:
>> * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
>> * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
>> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Dr Keith Dear
> National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
> ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment
> Australian National University
> Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia
> Phone +61 (02) 6273 2208
>
--
Dr Keith Dear
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment
Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia
Phone +61 (02) 6273 2208
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/