Dear Svend,
Thanks very much for the help.
The problem is that while the file "looks" like a fixed format file, it is
not fixed format...what look like demarked columns (by tabs or whatever) are
actually empty blanks. Thus, running infix results in imported variables
that are as below. To make it more clear, I reran your infix statement with
the num1 and num2 variables coming in as strings...it shows better what the
Stata sees - or more importantly, fails to see: the embedded blanks.
Is there a way to deal with those blanks, even if I had to import each
observation as a single txt line first and then convert them?
Using Svend's statement:
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
I get this in the first three variables:
v1 num1 name1
ANY 1206 Bunk1 Corn Silage
123 1 Grass Hay
158 h1 Straw
123 1 Haylage 1st cut
123 4 Haylage 2nd cut
107 GrainGrndFine
039 yByProdBread
105 PulpPlCp
102 gyBooster
00"
Running Svend's infix statement with all variables in as strings I get this
in the first 5 variables
clear
infix str v1 1-4 str 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
v1 num1 name1 sprice
ANY 1206 Bunk1 Corn Silage
123 4 She 1 Grass Hay $0.
158 2 Pur h1 Straw $0.
123 7 Sho 1 Haylage 1st cut $0.
123 8 Bun 4 Haylage 2nd cut $0.
107 0 Cor GrainGrndFine $135.
039 Bake yByProdBread $130.0
105 2 Bee PulpPlCp $140.
102 2 Ene gyBooster $1,20
00"
Svend's approach was:
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]
__________________________________________
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
Buzz Burhans, Ph.D.
Dairy-Tech Group
Phone: 802-755-6842
Cell: 802-388-7214
Email: [email protected]
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
