Re: st: Arrays and loops for Stata

[Stas Kolenikov <skolenik@gmail.com>]

Instead of the long sequence of -replace- commands, you could

generate lastd = .
foreach k of numlist 14(-1)0 {
  replace lastd = disp_dat`k' if missing(lastd)
}

although I believe there is a better solution conceptually with some
sort of -bysort- statement for data in long form.

On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Hitesh Chandwani
<hchandwani.stata@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm using a dataset that I changed from long to wide using -reshape-.
> What I need to do is for Stata to run a loop that picks out the first
> date that a patient got a prescription from the variables
> disp_date0-disp_date14. I also need to run a loop that picks out the
> last date that the patient got a prescription. I figured out the long
> and crude way of doing this (given below) but would really appreciate
> it if someone could help me with the loop command.
> "disp_date0-disp_date14" are in chronological order.
>
> ***generate first date of dispensing drug***
> gen firstd=disp_date0
> replace firstd=disp_date1 if firstd==.
>
> ***generate last date of dispensing drug***
> gen lastd=disp_date14
> replace lastd=disp_date13 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date12 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date11 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date10 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date9 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date8 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date7 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date6 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date5 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date4 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date3 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date2 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date1 if lastd==.
> replace lastd=disp_date0 if lastd==.
>
> Thanks and regards,
> --
> Hitesh S. Chandwani
> University of Texas at Austin
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-- 
Stas Kolenikov, also found at http://stas.kolenikov.name
Small print: I use this email account for mailing lists only.

*
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