Assuming X is the variable name, something like this should work:
label variable X `" `=substr("X",3,length("X")-5)' `: variable label X' "'
where
`=substr("X",3,length("X")-5)' extracts the relevant string from the variable name.
`: variable label X' returns the initial variable label
For looping through a long list of variables, you can put the line in a -foreach- loop:
foreach var of varlist your_list_of_variables {
label variable `var' `" `=substr("`var'",3,length("`var'")-5)' `: variable label `var'' "'
}
Not tested, but I imagine something along these lines should work.
Philippe
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : [email protected] [mailto:owner-
> [email protected]] De la part de Martin Weiss
> Envoy� : lundi 9 juin 2008 17:29
> � : [email protected]
> Objet : st: RE: extract portion of variable name to use in variable
> label
>
> -h extended_fcn- might help you with the extraction process...
>
> Martin Weiss
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> Diplom-Kaufmann Martin Weiss
> Mohlstrasse 36
> Room 415
> 72074 Tuebingen
> Germany
>
> Fon: 0049-7071-2978184
>
> Home: http://www.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de/cms/index.php?id=1130
>
> Publications: http://www.wiwi.uni-
> tuebingen.de/cms/index.php?id=1131
>
> SSRN:
> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=669945
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andy
> Baxter
> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 5:27 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: extract portion of variable name to use in variable
> label
>
> I have a large data set in which the variable names reflect the
> subject
> and metric of a specific test, e.g., a_alg1_ss is the "Algebra 1
> Scale
> Score."
> All of the variable names have a common structure: a prefix of a_,
> a
> test identifier string, and a suffix of _[metric of test, e.g., al
> for
> achievement level or ss for scale score].
> The current variable labels reflect the test metric, but not the
> test
> identifier.
>
> Here is a subset of the variables:
>
> . describe a_alg1_ss a_alg1_al a_alg1rt1_ss a_alg1rt1_al
>
> storage display value
> variable name type format label variable label
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> ---
> a_alg1_ss int %8.0g Scalescore
> a_alg1_al byte %8.0g Achievement Level
> a_alg1rt1_ss int %8.0g Scalescore
> a_alg1rt1_al byte %8.0g Achievement Level
>
> I am trying to write syntax that will extract the test identifier
> from
> the variable name and insert it into the variable label. I would
> like
> to wind up with:
>
> variable name variable label
> a_alg1_ss alg1 Scalescore
> a_alg1_al alg1 Achievement Level
> a_alg1rt1_ss alg1rt Scalescore
> a_alg1rt1_al alg1rt Achievement Level
>
> My Stata version is:
> .about
> Stata/SE 9.2 for Windows
> Born 20 Jul 2007
>
> Thanks for your consideration.
> --
> Andy Baxter
> Center for Research & Evaluation
> Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
> 980.343.1603 (phone)
> 980.343.6660 (fax)
>
>
>
> Email correspondence to and from this address is subject to public
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