--- Nicholas Harrigan <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am trying to recode a variable containing large numbers which are
> currently held as strings.
>
> I am wondering why real and destring give different results
>
> "5560001090"
> when I run real I get: 5560001024
> when I run destring I get: 5560001090
>
> "5560001108"
> when I run real I get: 5560001024
> when I run destring I get: 5560001108
>
> Does this mean I should use always use destring in my coding instead
> of
> real?
>
> The commands I use are these:
>
> gen new_var = real(old_var)
> gen new_var2 = old_var
> destring new_var2, replace
No, the issue here is precision, you can get the same results as
destring if you typed:
gen double new_var = real(old_var)
If you search the statalist archive on precision you will find many
many good posts on that issue.
Hope this helps,
Maarten
-----------------------------------------
Maarten L. Buis
Department of Social Research Methodology
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Boelelaan 1081
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
visiting address:
Buitenveldertselaan 3 (Metropolitan), room Z434
+31 20 5986715
http://home.fsw.vu.nl/m.buis/
-----------------------------------------
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