st: replace and strpos

["Ona McCarthy" <omccarthy@tccr.org.uk>]

Hello,

I have a list of around 300 postcodes that are string variables. I need to change the postcode strings into their corresponding borough. I succeeded in doing this to some extent by writing commands for each string value using replace and strops. E.g.:

replace borough  = "Camden" if strpos(postcode, "NW1")

A problem arises when I run all the commands and it comes to a postcode that contains some characters that are also in another postcode, i.e. it overwrites the original.

E.g. the above "Camden" is overwritten by "Westminster" when this command is run:

replace borough  = "Westminster" if strpos(postcode, "W1")

Because it shares the "W1".

Is there any way I can tell Stata to look for the EXACT postcode? I've looked all around and can't figure it out.

Thanks,

Ona


  



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