Re: st: Tostring Question

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

-tostring- is just a wrapper for -string()- and -string(.)- returns
".". If you want empty strings  instead, add a line

replace byte_var = "" if byte_var == "."

But all this should be unnecessary. -egen, concat()- concatenates
numeric and string variables alike. If you are doing your
concatenation using +, OK, but Stata offers a solution.


Nick
njcoxstata@gmail.com


On 16 December 2013 17:02, Erika Kociolek <ekociole@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I am trying to convert a byte variable (byte_var) to a string so it
> can be concatenated with other variables. Sometimes this variable is a
> string when imported into Stata, and sometimes it is not (thus the
> "capture confirm" code). When I do this using the tostring command,
> for missing values of byte_var, I get "." instead of "" (missing).
>
> Here is the code I'm using:
>
> capture confirm numeric variable byte_var
>
> if !_rc {
> tostring byte_var, force replace
> }
>
> Any suggestions or assistance would be very helpful.
>
> Best,
> Erika
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