Buzz wrote:
I have data that comes to me in a text file that is generally columnar,
but
does not contain any delimiters. If I import the file into Stata it
comes
in as a single variable v1 ; the first 10 observations look something
like
this (assuming the email doesn't mangle it here):
. list v1
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
v1
|----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. | ANY 1206 Bunk1 Corn Silage $0.00 97 FarmGrown Forag
lb
2. | 1234 Shed1 Grass Hay $0.00 146 Purchased Forag
lb
3. | 1582 Purch1 Straw $0.00 164 Purchased Forag
lb
4. | 1237 Shor1 Haylage 1st cut $0.00 149 FarmGrown Forag
lb
5. | 1238 Bunk4 Haylage 2nd cut $0.00 150 FarmGrown Forag
lb
|----------------------------------------------------------------------
6. | 1070 CornGrainGrndFine $135.00 205 Purchased Energ
lb
7. | 039 BakeryByProdBread $130.00 308 Purchased Energ
lb
8. | 1052 BeetPulpPlCp $140.00 313 Purchased Energ
lb
9. | 1022 EnergyBooster $1,200. 521 Purchased Energ
lb
10. |
00
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This looks like fixed format data; use -infix- to read it. I first
created a text file (buzz.txt) from your list:
ANY 1206 Bunk1 Corn Silage $0.00 97 FarmGrown Forag lb
1234 Shed1 Grass Hay $0.00 146 Purchased Forag lb
1582 Purch1 Straw $0.00 164 Purchased Forag lb
1237 Shor1 Haylage 1st cut $0.00 149 FarmGrown Forag lb
1238 Bunk4 Haylage 2nd cut $0.00 150 FarmGrown Forag lb
1070 CornGrainGrndFine $135.00 205 Purchased Energ lb
039 BakeryByProdBread $130.00 308 Purchased Energ lb
1052 BeetPulpPlCp $140.00 313 Purchased Energ lb
1022 EnergyBooster $1,200. 521 Purchased Energ lb
00
The command goes like this:
clear
infix str v1 1-4 num1 5-9 str name1 11-31 str sprice 32-38 ///
num2 39-45 str name2 50-64 str name3 68-69 using buzz.txt
// remove $ and , from price and make it numeric
replace sprice = subinstr(sprice,"$","",.)
replace sprice = subinstr(sprice,",","",.)
generate price = real(sprice)
format price %8.2f
Hope this helps
Svend
__________________________________________
Svend Juul
Institut for Folkesundhed, Afdeling for Epidemiologi
(Institute of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology)
Vennelyst Boulevard 6
DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Phone: +45 8942 6090
Home: +45 8693 7796
Email: [email protected]
__________________________________________
*
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