Re: st: Generating new variable with new values from the old one

[Richard Goldstein <richgold@ix.netcom.com>]

when you type "gen agecat=." you are setting up a numeric variable (be
careful of the typo in your code below)

however, "adult" is not a number

further if the entries in age_category are in caps, your statement needs
to be in caps also

you are probably better off by using (1) encode to get a new numeric
variable and then (2) recode or a replace to change the values you want
to change

rich

On 9/5/12 11:11 AM, Shittu, Aminu wrote:
> Dear Statalisters,
> 
> I am interested in generating a new "agecat" variable and then rename every value in the original "age_category" named "NA," "NONE" and "UNKNOWN" to mean the same, I will call all of the as "NONE." However, I am interested in keeping those values such as "ADULT," and "YOUNG" to mean the same as in the original "age_category" variable. I used the following initially but the response is always "adult not found," is there a way I can do it in Stata? Here are my command lines:
> 
> gen agacat=.
> replace agecat=adult if age_category==adult
> 
> Please note all the entries in var "age_category" are in CAPS.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Aminu
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