That shouldn't surprise you. -string()- is
a function, not a command. You normally
use it within a -generate- or -replace-
command.
Also, it appears that you are ignoring
Uli's excellent advice, which was to
use -tostring-.
Nick
[email protected]
Robin Newberry
> When I try to convert one set of SSN to strings ("string(v14)") I get
> an "unrecognized command: string" error.
>
> I went back to re-import the data (comma delimited file, all fields
> enclosed in quotes), but for some reason it imports as a number even
> though the in the originating file it's "#########".
> >Robin Newberry wrote:
> >> > I recommend to use strings.
> >>
> >> Hmmmm. OK then - how do I put the hyphens into the
> non-hyphenated string?
> >
> >No, no. Don't put hyphens into the numbers. Just tread the
> numbers as strings.
> >In your non-hyphenated dataset type something like
> >
> >. ren ssn ssnreal
> >. destring ssnreal, generate(ssn)
> >. sort ssn
> >. save foo, replace
> >
> >and than merge.
> >
> >The reason for my recommendation, btw is, that numbers with
> many digits like
> >the SSN, can get obscured by the storage-type "float". I
> generally use
> >string-variables for unique-identifiers therefore ...
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