st: RE: problem using catplot to graph vertical bars

[Nick Cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

Adelaine is using -catplot- 2.0.0 from SSC. As the FAQ advises 

http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/statalist.html#stata

"Say what command(s) you are using. If they are not part of official Stata, say where they come from: the STB/SJ, SSC, or other archives."

This is so that people who might answer the question have a much clearer notion of what is being asked -- and so that people who might not answer the question have a chance to learn about something -- and so that people who ask the question get good answers faster. 

There are three ways of understanding what is going on here. 

1. Logic. If -catplot- understands that -group-, the first thing named, is a variable, then by the same logic -catplot- expects that -bar-, the first thing named, should be a variable. But Adelaine has no such variable, which is precisely why -catplot- complains and issues an error message. 

2. Reading the help file. This explains that -recast(bar)- is the option that Adelaine is seeking. Reading the help is often a good idea. Perhaps Adelaine is guessing at appropriate syntax by analogy with -graph bar-, but -catplot- 2.0.0, although calling -graph {bar|hbar|dot}, uses its own syntax. 

3. Historical research. Perhaps Adelaine is confusing old and new syntaxes for -catplot-, but they differ. See http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2010-06/msg00431.html for one explanation. 

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 

Leung, Adelaine K.W.

I'm trying to make a simple categorical graph using catplot.  

The following command works and draws the bars horizonally
catplot group courted if enflp==272 & group!=0 & group!=2 & gal4line==1, percent(courted) 

However, I would like the same graphs drawn with vertical bars using the following command:

catplot bar group courted if enflp==272 & group!=0 & group!=2 & gal4line==1, percent(courted) 

I get an error: variable bar not found

Any advice will be great!

Thanks in advance.

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