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st: editing string variables to remove letters and keep only numbers
From
Michael McCulloch <[email protected]>
To
[email protected]
Subject
st: editing string variables to remove letters and keep only numbers
Date
Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:53:41 -0700
I have a variable in my dataset that (due to changes in data entry practices over time) contains several styles of the variable ID:
- a number (e.g. 164)
- a letter-number combination (e.g. e64)
- a comma-separated letter-number combination (e.g. e64,e65)
In seeking to (A) remove the letters, and (B) separate the comma-separated into two separate variables, ID1 and ID2, I wrote the following argument:
. split ID, p(",")
. gen str id1_new ="" // make new ID to separate out the "e" from ID
. replace id1_new=substr(id1,2,3)
This successfully splits ID into ID1 and ID2.
This also works if:
a 3-digit variable has a preceding letter (e64 is changed to 64)
However, in the case of a 3-digit values WITHOUT PRECEDING LETTER, the first digit is removed (164 is changed to 64).
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Best wishes,
Michael McCulloch, LAc MPH PhD
--
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