Hi, listers
I'm having trouble capturing the parameters for bysort used when
calling a program. The following simple (and untested) program
illustrates the problem. It replaces missing values with the
previously known value, using only a subset of the data.
capture program drop missing_like_last
program missing_like_last, byable(onecall)
syntax varlist [if]
marksample touse
bysort `touse' `_byvars' (`varlist2-reference'): replace `var' =
`var'[_n-1] if `var'==. & `touse'
end
bysort id (sortvar): missing_like_last myvar if somevar==1
(syntax for bysort is: bysort varlist1 (varlist2): ...)
As you can see, I'm trying to issue commands using the exact same
bysort-parameters as used when calling the program, just adding the
`touse' variable. I need the order to be correct as I am issuing
commands with references between rows ( [_n-1] ).
To do this, I need to capture the -bysort- parameters varlist1 and
varlist2 containing the values id and sortvar. -_byvars- takes care of
varlist1, but how can I capture varlist2? Without specifying varlist2,
the sort order within id will be scrambled.
I hope you can help.
Cheers,
-Steinar
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