Re: AW: st: AW: problem with the generate command

[Steven Samuels <sjhsamuels@earthlink.net>]

--


Eva is right. There's no need for -regexr-.  With gremlins zapped,  
the following works for me.

replace healthinit="" if healthinit==".."
destring healthinit, gen(h)

-Steve


On Mar 3, 2009, at 10:23 AM, Eva Poen wrote:

> Isabelle,
>
> Martin and Steven already gave you hints on how to proceed from here.
> Just a few comments: Your
>
> replace healthinit="" if "healthinit"==..
>
> is incorrect syntax. The double quotes should be around the .. and not
> around healthinit. Next you tried
>
> replace healthinit="" if healthinit==".."
>
> which is correct syntax. You said "it does not work". Please be more
> specific. Does Stata give an error message (which is unlikely)? Or
> does it say "(0 real changes made)" which means that the string ".."
> cannot be found in your variable. In this case I suspect there are
> either leading and/or trailing spaces around .., or some other weird
> characters that came about by copy and paste. One thing you could try
> is
>
> replace healthinit="" if strpos(healthinit,"..")>0
>
> Martin's advice to use -tab- and -tab, nolabel- after -encode- was
> just meant to show you what -encode- actually does. These commands
> would not change your data, therefore no change of behaviour was
> expected.
>
> If you get nowhere with string functions and/or regular expressions,
> try and explore other routes to get your data into Stata, e.g.
> StatTransfer, where you can declare a variable to be numeric from the
> outset.
>
> Eva
>
>
> 2009/3/3  <Isabelle.Roux@ehess.fr>:
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Thank you very much for this helpful advice.
> > Stata refuses to replace .. by a blank. I type:
> >
> > *******
> > replace healthinit="" if "healthinit"==..
> >
> > ******
> >
> > I have:"nothing found where name expected".
> > If I try:*replace healthinit="" if healthinit==".."*, it does not  
> > work
> > better. Is there a problem with my command?
> >
> >
> >
> > Then when I write:
> > **
> > encode healthinit, gen(H)
> > ta H
> > ta H, nolabel
> > generate health=1.06*H
> >
> > **
> > I have the same resultas for health
> >
> >
> > > <>
> > >
> > > After your -encode- command, type
> > >
> > > *************
> > > ta H
> > > ta H, nolabel
> > > *************
> > >
> > > and note the difference. -destring- is your command of choice,  
> > > and pay
> > > attention to Eva`s remark for the missings.
> > >
> > >
> > > HTH
> > > Martin
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > > Von: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> > > [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] Im Auftrag von
> > > Isabelle.Roux@ehess.fr
> > > Gesendet: Dienstag, 3. März 2009 12:29
> > > An: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> > > Betreff: Re: st: AW: problem with the generate command
> > >
> > > Dear Martin,
> > > Thank you very much for all your help since the beginning I use  
> > > Stata.
> > > Here are my data (just the beginning!):
> > >
> > > country            healthinit H        health
> > >  Afghanistan  13.00   13.00    23.32
> > >  Albania      116.00  116.00   16.96
> > >  Algeria           76.00      76.00    169.6
> > >  American Samoa       ..      ..       1.06
> > >  Andorra            1922.17   1922.17          54.06
> > >  Angola            24.00      24.00   72.08
> > >  Antigua and Barbuda  492.00  492.00  138.86
> > >  Argentina    283.00  283.00  89.04
> > >  Armenia            53.00     53.00   145.22
> > >  Aruba              ..        ..      1.06
> > >
> > > Healthinit is the health expenditure per capita in current  
> > > dollars. It is
> > > a string variable. It comes from the wdi database. As I want them in
> > > euros, and that the exchange rate is 1.06 (year is 2003), I wrote to
> > > stata:
> > >
> > > encode healthinit, gen(H)
> > > generate health=1.06*H
> > >
> > > H is a long variable.
> > >
> > > Danke schön für die Helfe!
> > >
> > > Isabelle
>
> *
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