Re: st: Using "x" from the ""x" real change made" output of -replace-

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

I doubt that anyone would want to try to follow exactly what you are
doing here without much more explanation.

But this question reminds me of a discussion several years ago on
Statalist, although I won't try to search for "replace" as a keyword
in the archives.

In principle, it would be very useful if -replace- were a r-class
command so that you could just inspect say r(change) to see if it were
0.

Or so it might seem.

Any way, changing -replace- to a r-class command would wreak havoc
among programs and do files across Stata, to say nothing of other
issues.

And -replace- does not do that now, so speculation helps you not at all.

So, in general I know of no substitute for comparing the absolute or
relative difference of latest with previous.

Depending on what kind of iteration is being used, convergence might
be flagged by something other than exact zero change.

Nick

Maxime Roy asked

> How do I go about using "x" from the ""x" real change made" output of
> -replace-?
> I am using Stata12 for Windows.
>
> I am using an iterative procedure and I would like to stop iterating when
> there are no more real changes happening through -replace-.
>
> Here is a code that would work if "r(change)" after replace would return
> "x" from the ""x" real change made" output of replace.
>
> gen ID3 = ID2
> local change = 1
> while `change' > 0{
> sort ID t2
> by ID: replace ID3=ID3[1]
> local change1 = r(change)
> sort ID2 t2
> by ID2: replace ID3=ID3[1]
> local change2 = r(change)
> replace ID2=ID3
> local change = `change1' + `change2'
> }
>
> Based on the help file of generate and replace, there does not seem to be
> a direct way of obtaining "x" from the ""x" real change made" output. Does
> a statalist user have a suggestion?
>
> The following works, but I am seeking a more elegant/fast solution:
>
> gen ID3 = ID2
> local change = 1
> while `change' > 0{
> sort ID t2
> by ID: gen diff=1 if ID3!=ID3[1]
> count if diff==1
> local change1 = r(N)
> by ID: replace ID3=ID3[1]
> sort ID2 t2
> by ID2: gen diff2=1 if ID3!=ID3[1]
> count if diff2==1
> local change2 = r(N)
> by ID2: replace ID3=ID3[1]
> replace ID2=ID3
> drop diff diff2
> local change = `change1' + `change2'
> }
>
> Thank you
>
> - Maxime Roy
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/