If the program also uses current features of Stata then version
statements would have to be splattered all over the place. More
involved than globally replacing "reshape" with "reshape_10".
I should note this is a general post, not specific to my own problem.
The issue I'm trying to underline is that the current version of
-reshape- does not handle variables named longer than 20 characters.
This is a severe limitation that will cause many existing programs to
fail. The best solution is to reprogram the current -reshape- program
without this constraint.
Who maintains reshape? Statacorp?
James
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:18 AM, Martin Weiss
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Would a -version- statement not be easier?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Muller
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 5:06 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: new reshape command compatibility issue
>
> Hi list,
>
> A new major version of reshape was released, but it imposes a restriction on
> the maximum length of variables it can reshape (at least from wide->long).
> Specifically, reshape fails on variables with names longer than 20
> characters.
>
> I realized this when it caused a large (a couple of thousand do-files
> involved) system to fail...
>
> There's a quick solution, but it sucks. The old reshape command is still
> available as the command reshape_10. The solution is to replace all reshape
> command calls with reshape_10. It is a shame 'reshape' is also a word in
> natural
> language.
>
> Under the hood, reshape obtains details of the variables via the 'char'
> system (?), which creates variables describing variables from your dataset,
> prefixing them... That is, the dataset variable name plus the prefix can
> violate Stata's 32-character variable name limit.
>
> I ask, is there the possibility of thes very important Stata command,
> reshape,
> being modified so that it can accept variable named according to the general
> convention in Stata?
>
> As I say, there is the option of using reshape_10, but, well, that's a lazy
> solution.
>
> Cheers
>
> James
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