st: egen rowfirst and rowlast quirks

[Abbe Will <abbe_will@harvard.edu>]

Hi,
In using the -egen newvar=rowfirst(varlist)- and rowlast commands, I am 
coming up against a strange quirk where occasionally the value of the new 
variable is not an exact copy of the first or last value as it should be. 
Out of 900 observations, about 25 first and last values are created which 
do not match the actual first and last values exactly. Most of these new 
values are only one digit higher or lower than the original (sounds like 
rounding, right?), but a few are 2 digits off, one 11 digits off, one 
24.... There seems to be no pattern to which numbers get altered and how. 
My data are positive integers, so there should be no way to round anyway. 
I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or comments. Thanks!

-Abbe Will 

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