st:How to do analysis if the same variable exists in one dataset and is missing or contains no observation in another database?

[adiallo5@worldbank.org]

Dear stata users,

I have the same survey conducted in several developing countries.
The databases contain almost the same variables (most of the time
coded the same way, but differently sometimes).

In each database, I want to tell stata to check for a variable, and if it does
exist or does
contain observations, to perform some task.

I coded for example:

foreach x of varlist v* {
      capture confirm existence (`x')
      if _rc!=0 {
                      sum `x'
                      recode `x' 1=1 2/3=2 4/*=3
     }
    else {
                  display "`x' does not exist or may contain no observation"
}

But this does not seem to work. I am using stata 8.

How to do if the codification for the same variable is different across
databases?

Many thanks.



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