Re: st: data formatted on cards

[David Kantor <dkantor@jhu.edu>]

At 11:17 AM 7/1/2003 -0400, Patricia Pugliani wrote:
> I have complicated raw data that is formatted on "cards" and I cannot
> determine how to make a dataset from these data.
> This is the information that I have concerning these data:
>       DATASET 3
>       PART NAME Merged 1976, 1981, and 1987 Data
>       FILE STRUCTURE rectangular
>       CASE COUNT 1,427
>       VARIABLE COUNT 4,080
>       LRECL 86
>       RECORDS PER CASE 106
>
> Can someone help me with this problem. I am a new Stata user and have only
> used datasets up to this point, and not raw data. The data is in fixed
> columns.
> Thank you
Knowing that it is fixed columns is one important step.  The other 
information you will need is what those columns are.  For each variable 
that you are interested in, you need to know its name, starting position, 
length, and type -- plus which "line" it is on.  The latter remark related 
to the fact that there are 106 records ("lines") per case.  That is, the 
data are in groups of 106 lines; some variables are on line 1 within each 
group, some are on line 2, and so forth.

You will need to create a dictionary to describe how the variables are laid 
out in the raw data file. That is, you will need to do an -infile- with a 
dictionary, which you should see in the manual -- or type

 help infile2
(or if you prefer,
 view help infile2
)
at the Stata command window.

Note that those variables on line 1 of every group of 106, should be 
preceded by
 _line(1)
in your dictionary (but this is optional if they are at the beginning of 
the dictionary). Those that are on line 2 of every group of 106 should be 
preceded by
 _line(2)
and so forth (these are not optional).

(Those _line directives need only be written once before each group of 
variables that are on the same line of the raw file and described together 
in the dictionary.)

It is best to put
 _lines(106)
near the top of the dictionary.

(It is optional under certain circumstances, but best just to include it.)

I recommend to place
 _column()
(fill in the starting column number) before every variable description.

The type of each variable should be specified in your dictionary. You will 
also need to create input formats; those are determined by a combination of 
type and length.

Good luck.
-- David

David Kantor
Institute for Policy Studies
Johns Hopkins University
dkantor@jhu.edu
410-516-5404

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