Thanks to Kit Baum, a -dlist- package containing
a command of that name has been added to SSC.
Stata 8.2 is required.
-dlist- arose from a question asked privately by
Miguel Ampudia Fraile.
-dlist- is a listing command. The -d- element
is meant to evoke -describe-. The motivation
for -dlist- is that on occasion you may wish
to look simultaneously at variable names,
variable values and variable labels. For example,
variable names may be cryptic to some degree,
especially if the dataset is new or unfamiliar to
you or large or complicated. Ideally, a cryptic
variable name will be made clear by a variable
label.
I may well be missing something, but I couldn't
think of a way to do this. -codebook- seems
to come closest. In -edit- variable labels are a click
away, but the price is that and often the need to
scroll horizontally.
Reminding ourselves of what -list- does
. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 Automobile Data)
. list in 1
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1. | make | price | mpg | rep78 | headroom | trunk | weight | length | turn |
| AMC Concord | 4,099 | 22 | 3 | 2.5 | 11 | 2,930 | 186 | 40 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| displa~t | gear_r~o | foreign |
| 121 | 3.58 | Domestic |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
and what -describe- does
. d
Contains data from C:\Program Files\Stata9\ado\base/a/auto.dta
obs: 74 1978 Automobile Data
vars: 12 13 Apr 2005 17:45
size: 3,478 (99.9% of memory free) (_dta has notes)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
storage display value
variable name type format label variable label
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
make str18 %-18s Make and Model
price int %8.0gc Price
mpg int %8.0g Mileage (mpg)
rep78 int %8.0g Repair Record 1978
headroom float %6.1f Headroom (in.)
trunk int %8.0g Trunk space (cu. ft.)
weight int %8.0gc Weight (lbs.)
length int %8.0g Length (in.)
turn int %8.0g Turn Circle (ft.)
displacement int %8.0g Displacement (cu. in.)
gear_ratio float %6.2f Gear Ratio
foreign byte %8.0g origin Car type
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorted by: foreign
This is what -dlist- does:
. dlist in 1
1.
make Make and Model AMC Concord
price Price 4,099
mpg Mileage (mpg) 22
rep78 Repair Record 1978 3
headroom Headroom (in.) 2.5
trunk Trunk space (cu. ft.) 11
weight Weight (lbs.) 2,930
length Length (in.) 186
turn Turn Circle (ft.) 40
displacement Displacement (cu. in.) 121
gear_ratio Gear Ratio 3.58
foreign Car type Domestic
That might be useful for looking at just a few observations.
By default, you get variable names, labels and values.
There are a few options for tweaking output. Perhaps
the most useful is scope for abbreviating names and
variable labels and even suppressing them:
. dlist in 1, name(0)
1.
Make and Model AMC Concord
Price 4,099
Mileage (mpg) 22
Repair Record 1978 3
Headroom (in.) 2.5
Trunk space (cu. ft.) 11
Weight (lbs.) 2,930
Length (in.) 186
Turn Circle (ft.) 40
Displacement (cu. in.) 121
Gear Ratio 3.58
Car type Domestic
Nick
[email protected]
*
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