st: AW: strpos: cleaning string variables

["Hanno Scholtz" <scholtz@soz.unibe.ch>]

Hi Emily

in a similar task I first saved the blank positions and afterwards split the
string in its components:

  gen     p1=strpos(content,", ")-1;
  gen     p2=strpos(substr(content,p1+3,.),", ")-1;
  gen     p3=strpos(substr(content,p1+p2+5,.),", ")-1;
  gen     p4=strpos(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+7,.),", ")-1;
  gen     p5=strpos(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+9,.),", ")-1;
  gen     p6=strpos(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+p5+11,.),", ")-1;
  replace p1=length(content) if cparts==1;
  replace p2=length(substr(content,p1+3,.)) if cparts==2;
  replace p3=length(substr(content,p1+p2+5,.))  if cparts==3;
  replace p4=length(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+7,.))  if cparts==4;
  replace p5=length(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+9,.))  if cparts==5;
  replace p6=length(substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+p5+11,.))  if cparts==6;
  gen     c1=substr(content,1,p1);
  gen     c2=substr(content,p1+3,p2);
  gen     c3=substr(content,p1+p2+5,p3);
  gen     c4=substr(content,p1+p2+p3+7,p4);
  gen     c5=substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+9,p5);
  gen     c6=substr(content,p1+p2+p3+p4+p5+11,p6);
  drop p1-p6;

Okay, it won't get a price for elegance, but it worked.

Best, 
Hanno




-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
[mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] Im Auftrag von Emily Farchy
Gesendet: Montag, 21. Februar 2011 21:29
An: 'statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu'
Betreff: st: strpos: cleaning string variables

I would like to run a loop to transform some messy names into cleaner
versions eg
"Drs. H. Muslim Kasim, Ak"--> "Muslim Kasim"
"Drs. Makmur Syahputra, Sh" -->"Makmur Syah Putra"
"H Amru Helmy Daulay Sh" --> "Amru Helmy Daulay"

I was thinking of using the strpos command which seems like it might be
useful but is there a way to get it to find the nth occurrence (eg of a
space) and a way to eliminate substrings of for example 3 letters or less?

I was working on the following but get stuck when I pass the first occurence

foreach x of local xlist {
	
	**** get rid of . , or & in name (A, B --> A B; st. A -->  st A, A &
B --> A and B)
	foreach z in , . & {
		qui gen `x'_bh= trim(substr(`x', 1, strpos(`x', "`z'")-1))
		qui gen `x'_ah= trim(substr(`x', strpos (`x', "`z'")+1, 50))
		qui gen `x'_mid= substr(`x', strpos (`x', "`z'"), 1)

		replace `x'=trim(`x'_bh+" "+`x'_ah)
		replace `x'=trim(`x'_bh+" and "+`x'_ah) if `x'_mid=="&"

		drop `x'_bh `x'_ah `x'_mid
		}
	}

Thanks a lot

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