st: new -group_id- package available from SSC

[Robert Picard <picard@netbox.com>]

Thanks to Kit Baum, a new package called -group_id- is available on
SSC. Stata 9.2 or higher is required. To view the help file:

. ssc type group_id.hlp

To install:

. ssc install group_id

There is recent anecdotal evidence that -group_id- can significantly
improve the user's quality of life:

http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2010-04/msg01102.html

-group_id- is useful when consolidating different identifier codes
when information contained in other variables match. This can be
tricky to do in Stata if there are multiple observations per
identifier code.

In the past, I have found -group_id- very useful when combining
datasets where the identifier codes had changed through time. The same
type of problem can also occur when combining datasets from different
sources. It also can have application when doing fuzzy matching to
overcome name variations and typos.

Robert
http://robertpicard.com/
*
*   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/