Nick
[email protected]
Gisella Young
I am trying to load a datafile in text format into Stata. I am using the
infix command. The problem is that 1 column of data (the firm column,
which is the unique identification number for each observation, is
different when I open it in Stata as from what I can see in the original
text file. In fact I have several such text files for various years, and
in every case the problem is the same: all variables upload correctly
except for the first one. Not only is that number different but it is no
longer unique to each observation. It is however the same number of
digits as the original. I have checked that the infix command is
specified correctly (eg correct number of digits).
I have also tried saving the text file into excel (and applying
text-to-columns) and then converting it into a stata file using
Stat-transfer. When I do this all the variable upload correctly into
Stata. The problem is that I cannot do this for the entire files because
of their size (the limits of Excel mean that only a small fraction of
each file can be accommodated), so this is not a solution.
I realise that it may be difficult for someone to suggest an
explanation/solution without seeing the actual data, but I wonder
whether there are any suggestions as to what the problem might
potentially be, and how to get around it?
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