Re: st: removing leading blanks

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

OK, but in that case why did -ltrim()- fail to do what you wanted,
which is where you started?

Nick

On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 3:47 AM, Abhimanyu Arora
<abhimanyu.arora1987@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Nick, but doesn't it imply that the blanks are actually blanks
> and not any other string characters?
>
> But anyway, I was able to solve the issue by using
> replace var1=substr(var1,5,.)
>
> Wish you and all members of the statalist a very happy new year!
>
> Best regards
> Abhimanyu
>
> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 7:56 PM, Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I find the elements of your report difficult to reconcile. You imply
>> that -charlist- gives no output, which is not the case.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 1:42 PM, Abhimanyu Arora
>> <abhimanyu.arora1987@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Nick
>>> Thanks for the tip.
>>> I followed your suggestions but somehow still am unable to get things right.
>>> Here are the steps I followed together with the displayed output.
>>> Charlist rules out non-blank spaces, but-subinstr- with char(9) or "
>>> ", both do not yield the desired outcome.
>>>
>>> . count
>>>   10
>>>
>>> . gen problem=substr(var1,1,4)
>>>
>>> . charlist problem
>>>
>>>
>>> . replace var1 = subinstr(var1, char(9), "", .)
>>> (0 real changes made)
>>>
>>>
>>> Now,
>>>
>>> . replace var1 = subinstr(var1, " ", "",. )
>>> (10 real changes made)
>>>
>>> . gen problem2=substr(var1,1,3) *It seems the 10 changes are basically
>>> left trimming by 1 leading blank space*
>>>
>>> . charlist problem2
>>>
>>>
>>> . replace var1 = subinstr(var1, " ", "",. ) *Similar recursive steps
>>> as above does not seem to work out*
>>> (0 real changes made)
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Abhimanyu
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 5:34 PM, Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> What you describe as blanks may be some other character(s).
>>>>
>>>> -charlist- (SSC) is a utility which may help.
>>>>
>>>> gen problem = substr(var1, 1, 4)
>>>>
>>>> charlist problem
>>>>
>>>> After finding out which characters are present, use code such as
>>>>
>>>> replace var1 = subinstr(var1, char(9), "", .)
>>>>
>>>> where 9 is a placeholder for the argument you need. (char(9) is a tab,
>>>> and the characters might just be a tab.)
>>>>
>>>> Nick
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Dec 31, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Abhimanyu Arora
>>>> <abhimanyu.arora1987@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> All values of a string variable, var1, have 4 blank spaces in the beginning.
>>>>> However, when I type in the command
>>>>> -replace var1=ltrim(var1)- ,
>>>>>  the output displays "0 real changes made" (and needless to say,
>>>>> things remain as they were to start with)
>>>>> Would be really great if this puzzling issue is sorted out.
>>>>

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