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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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