Hi Nick:
Could you please explain your second sentence below about _n being defined as 1? In my new Stata 9 User's Guide (which arrived yesterday!) on page 148, I read
"_n contains the number of the current observation."
Adding to my earlier attempted explanation, I'll point out that Stata refers to variables such as _n as system or underscore variables.
EGW
>It is more the other way round. _n remains defined
>as 1 to whatever is _N regardless of the sort order
>of the data. Which observation is which is what varies.
>The consequences are much the same, naturally.
>
>Adding or deleting observations will change the range
>of _n, certainly.
>
>Nick
>[email protected]
>
>Eric G. Wruck
>
>> Stata does very little automatically. One thing that it does
>> do automatically is create a variable _n that contains the
>> observation number or record number. However, as soon as you
>> sort or do something with the data set, these _ns will
>> change. So, to create the variable you seem to want, you'll
>> want to use the generate command (usually abbreviated gen):
>>
> > gen case_id = _n
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