My concern is that I need to transform the string hhid variable into
the numeric one If I wantto use Stata commands such as sort, merge,
collapse that all require a unique id variable for each observation-
or group. 21blank 2 and blank212 are differen hhid numebers and belong
to different households. When I use the following command
destring newhhid, replace ignore(" ")
hose two hhid numbers turned into the same numeric hhid variable hhid
that makes impossible to differentiate between them.
I hope now my question becomes clear. Thanks for your interest.
Ali M.
On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 18:38:04 -0000, Nick Cox <[email protected]> wrote:
> Sorry, but what's the problem?
> Stata did what you asked. If you
> do in fact believe that the blanks
> are somehow informative, your original
> variable is the one to use.
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
>
> Ali Murat
>
> > I am trying to convert a string household indentification variable
> > ,that has leading and embedded blanks, to a numeric one. When I used
> > the destring command, the new numeric household identification number
> > has no longer unique values due to leading and embedded blanks in the
> > orıginal string household identification variable. To be more
> > precise, I would like to document what I have done so far:
> >
> > gen newhhid=hhid
> >
> > destring newhhid, replace ignore(" ")
> >
> > sort newid
> >
> > l hhid newhhid
> >
> >
> >
> > Obsnumber hhid newhhid
> >
> > 161. | 21 1 211 |
> >
> > 162. | 21 2 212 |
> >
> > 163. | 212 212 |
> >
> > 164. | 213 213 |
> >
> > 165. | 21 3 213 |
> >
> > |------------------------|
> >
> > 166. | 214 214 |
> >
> > 167. | 21 4 214 |
> >
> >
> >
> > Please note that the observation 162 and 163 have a distinct hhid; the
> > fist has an embedded blankd, the second has a leading blank. However,
> > after using the destring command, they have same hhid number.
> >
> > How can I fix this problem.
>
> *
> * For searches and help try:
> * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
