In Stata 8, -tabulate- has a -sort- option.
For example,
. sysuse auto
. gen manuf = word(make,1)
. tab manuf
manuf | Freq. Percent Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
AMC | 3 4.05 4.05
Audi | 2 2.70 6.76
BMW | 1 1.35 8.11
Buick | 7 9.46 17.57
Cad. | 3 4.05 21.62
...
Volvo | 1 1.35 100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
Total | 74 100.00
. tab manuf , sort
manuf | Freq. Percent Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
Buick | 7 9.46 9.46
Olds | 7 9.46 18.92
Chev. | 6 8.11 27.03
Merc. | 6 8.11 35.14
Pont. | 6 8.11 43.24
Plym. | 5 6.76 50.00
Datsun | 4 5.41 55.41
Dodge | 4 5.41 60.81
...
Volvo | 1 1.35 100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
Total | 74 100.00
Otherwise, this problem has been addressed
by various user-written programs. Two I know
about are -tabsort- and -groups- on SSC.
There is pertinent discussion in
"Problems with tables, Part II" Stata Journal
3(4):420--439 (2003).
Nick
[email protected]
Loreto Carmona
> When tabulating a categorical string variable with many
> levels, I want
> sometimes to see the results ordered by frequency, rather than in
> alphabetical order.
>
> In long tables I don't feel like changing the label order
> in the do file
> every time I get un update of the data file (with newer levels).
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