st: New versions of -sencode-, -sdecode- and -dsconcat- on SSC

["Newson, Roger B" <r.newson@imperial.ac.uk>]

Thanks to Kit Baum, new versions of the -sencode-, -sdecode- and
-dsconcat- packages are now available for download from SSC. In Stata,
use the -ssc- command to do this.

All 3 packages are described as below on my website, and have now been
upgraded to Stata Version 9. However, users of Stata 8 and 7 can still
download the old Stata 7 versions of these packages from my website by
typing in Stata

net from "http://www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/stata7/";

and selecting the packages to download.

In addition, -sdecode- can now create decoded string variables with any
length up to the maximum string variable length available on the Stata
version, edition and flavor being used. This maximum length is 244 in
all sub-versions, editions and flavors of Stata 9, in contrast to an
upper limit of 80 in Intercooled Stata 7. Also, for what it's worth,
-dsconcat- should now be able to handle input filenames with more than
500 characters, if such filenames exist on large systems with deep
hierarchies of subdirectories with 32-byte names.

Best wishes

Roger


Roger Newson
Lecturer in Medical Statistics
Respiratory Epidemiology and Public Health Group
National Heart and Lung Institute
Imperial College London
Royal Brompton campus
Room 33, Emmanuel Kaye Building
1B Manresa Road
London SW3 6LR
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)20 7352 8121 ext 3381
Fax: +44 (0)20 7351 8322
Email: r.newson@imperial.ac.uk 
www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/

Opinions expressed are those of the author, not of the institution.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
package sencode from http://www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/stata9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

TITLE
      sencode: Encode a string variable non-alphanumerically into a
numeric variable

DESCRIPTION/AUTHOR(S)
      sencode is an extended version of encode. It takes, as input, a
string
      variable, and generates, as output, a numeric variable, with value
labels
      corresponding to values of the string variable. The output numeric
variable
      may replace the input string variable or be generated as a new
variable.
      sencode orders the numeric values corresponding to string values
in the
      sequential order of appearance in the input string variable in the
data set,
      or in another order specified by the user, instead of ordering
them in
      alphanumeric order of the string value, as encode does. The
mapping from
      numeric code values to string labels may be one-to-one (coded in
order of
      first appearance of the string value) or many-to-one (coded in
each
      observation by the position of that observation in the data set,
or in the
      user-specified ordering).
      
      Author: Roger Newson
      Distribution-Date: 21february2007
      Stata-Version: 9

INSTALLATION FILES                                  (click here to
install)
      sencode.ado
      sencode.hlp
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(click here to return to the previous screen)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
package sdecode from http://www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/stata9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

TITLE
      sdecode: Decode a numeric variable to string, formatting
unlabelled values

DESCRIPTION/AUTHOR(S)
      sdecode is an extended version of decode. It takes, as input, a
numeric
      variable, and generates, as output, a string variable, with values
      corresponding to value labels of the numeric variable for labelled
values,
      and (optionally) formatted values of the numeric variable for
unlabelled
      values. The output string values therefore appear as the numeric
input
      values appear in output from the tabulate command. The output
string
      variable may replace the input numeric variable or be generated as
a new
      variable.
      
      Author: Roger Newson
      Distribution-Date: 20february2007
      Stata-Version: 9

INSTALLATION FILES                                  (click here to
install)
      sdecode.ado
      sdecode.hlp
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
(click here to return to the previous screen)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
package dsconcat from http://www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/stata9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

TITLE
      dsconcat: Concatenate a list of Stata data files into the memory

DESCRIPTION/AUTHOR(S)
      dsconcat is a multiple-file version of use. It takes, as input, a
list of
      filenames, assumed to belong to Stata data files, and creates a
new data set
      in memory, containing a concatenation of all or a subset of the
observations
      and variables in all the input data sets. The observations are
ordered
      primarily by source data set and secondarily by order of
observations within
      source data set. Optionally, dsconcat creates new variables
specifying, for
      each observation, the source data set of origin and/or the
sequential order
      of the observation within its source data set of origin.
      
      Author: Roger Newson
      Distribution-Date: 20february2007
      Stata-Version: 9
      

INSTALLATION FILES                                  (click here to
install)
      dsconcat.ado
      dsconcat.hlp
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
(click here to return to the previous screen)

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