Dear David,
Sorry, I didn't read your code. Is this something you are trying to do?
program labels_ABC
syntax varname
local lab_name :value label `varlist'
tempvar new_order
preserve
uselabel `lab_name', clear
sort label
generate `new_order' = _n
tempfile order_dictionary
sort value
rename value `varlist'
keep `varlist' `new_order'
save `"`order_dictionary'"'
restore
sort `varlist'
merge `varlist' using `"`order_dictionary'"'
drop _merge
sort `new_order'
end
** Demonstration
sysuse auto
label define raz 1 "odin raz" 2 "dva raza" 3 "tri raza" 4 "chetyre
raza" 5 "pyat raz"
label values rep78 raz
list
labels_ABC rep78
list
** EOF
The program should be quite self-explanatory, but let me know if
something doesn't go as supposed to.
Best regards, Sergiy Radyakin
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 6:24 PM, David Elliott <[email protected]> wrote:
> I have a need to sort data by the alphabetical sort order of the value
> labels of a variable or have value labels appear in alphabetical order
> in tabs & tables. Normally, I could -decode x,gen(y)- and -sort y- to
> do so, but in this case I have a very large dataset, long value labels
> and no room to add a string## variable. Besides, I don't want to do
> this manually, I want to generalize the process to something like
> -labvalsort x-
>
> I've looked in various nooks and crannies of the manual, I've
> -hsearch-ed and -findit-ed without any luck. Even Nick's redoubtable
> labutils couldn't help in this case.
>
> (1) Does anyone know if such a utility program exists?
>
> (2) If such a program does not exist, I will outline how I am
> approaching the problem on my own.
>
> In order to get a list of labels into manipulatable form, there were
> two basic approaches that I considered:
> (A) using a -levelsof- on the value labeled variable of interest and
> then looping to get the labels and sorting the resultant list
> (B) using mata's -st_vlload()- function to allow processing of the
> labels in a matrix
>
> As a mata neophyte (B) looked daunting but had a certain beauty to it
> since a simple function can accomplish the work of a loop.
>
> I created the following -labvalsort- and much to my surprise, it worked:
>
> -----------begin code - watch for wrapping--------------
> program define labvalsort
> version 9.0
>
> *! version 1.0.0 2008.12.16
> *! Alphabetical sort by value label
> *! by David C. Elliott
>
> *! syntax is labvalsort varname
> *! creates new variable prepending "_" to varname
> *! creates new value label prepending "_" to varname's vlaue label
>
> local vallab : val lab `1'
> if "`vallab'"=="" {
> error 182
> exit
> }
> mata: vallabsort("`1'","`vallab'")
> qui recode `1' `rc_list',gen(_`1')
> lab val _`1' `new_lab'
> end
>
> mata:
> void vallabsort(string scalar varname , string scalar val_lab)
> {
> string scalar new_lab, rc_list
> string matrix lab_list, sort_lab
> new_lab = "_" + val_lab
> st_vlload(val_lab, values=.,text=.)
> lab_list=(strofreal(values),text)
> sort_lab=lab_list[.,1], sort(lab_list,2)
> /*
> origorder = strtoreal(sort_lab[.,1]')
> neworder = strtoreal(sort_lab[.,2]')
> */
> // create new value label
> st_vlmodify(new_lab,strtoreal(sort_lab[.,1]),sort_lab[.,3])
> // loop to create recode list
> for (i=1; i<=rows(sort_lab); i++) {
> rc_list = rc_list + "(" + sort_lab[i,2] + "=" + sort_lab[i,1]+")"
> }
> st_local("rc_list",rc_list)
> st_local("new_lab",new_lab)
> }
> end
> ---------------------------end code----------------------------
>
> One can test this with:
>
> -----------begin code - watch for wrapping--------------
> * testing labvalsort
> sysuse nlsw88.dta
> lab list indlbl
> tab ind
> labvalsort industry
> lab list _indlbl
> tab _ind
> sort _ind
> ---------------------------end code----------------------------
>
> The -labvalsort- program creates a new variable and value label where
> the new variable is numerically sorted in the new value label's
> alphabetical order. (Note that error checking is rudimentary at this
> point)
>
> (3) I'd like to get rid of the recode list loop. I believe it may be
> possible to do the recode from within mata and had created two vectors
> origorder and neworder (currently commented out) that I intend(ed) to
> use. However, I don't currently see how that is possible and would
> appreciate some suggestions on how to perform the recode from within
> mata. It may be that there isn't a -st_something- function available.
>
> While I don't anticipate coming up against macro length limits in the
> usual situation, recodes involving thousands of numbers could create
> an rc_list exceeding 65536. Staying in mata would stay away from that
> problem, I think.
>
> If there is a positive answer to (1) above, then (2) is a bit
> redundant, albeit an interesting challenge. If someone would like to
> help with (3) it would be appreciated. Indeed, if there is an
> alternate approach to the -labvalsort- problem, I'd enjoy the
> discussion. If others would find -labvalsort- of use, I'll spruce it
> up a bit with user choice of newvar name for the sorted variable.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> --
> David Elliott
> *
> * For searches and help try:
> * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
