Re: st: Stata 13 wishlist

[William Buchanan <william@williambuchanan.net>]

replace A=.a if A==.
la def mis .a "Missing"
la val A mis

Your initial post also asked for "extended missing values for string variables." In which case, you replace them with the appropriate string, or you encode the variable and label the missing values that way.  If you mean something else, maybe you could provide an example.  

In some instances . means the data is missing, while other times it could represent data that was not applicable for the particular observation.  Since many people have likely come across data that did not have well defined missing variables, how does this solution help them? 

If the entire reason for generating a label for system missing values is to save a single optional argument in a user-written package that not all users use, I see little reason for StataCorp to invest their time and money to solve a "problem" that could just as easily be addressed by the end user.  You could also write a program to do this for you if you really wanted.

HTH,
Billy


Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 19, 2013, at 18:37, Bert Lloyd <bert.lloyd.89@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 7:45 PM, William Buchanan
> <william@williambuchanan.net> wrote:
>> I'm not sure what value is gained from labeling missing values when there is no indication why the values are
>> missing to begin with. If you know why specific values are missing then just use the extended missing values
>> and label away.
> 
> Here is one example:
> 
> Suppose there are .-values in variable A.
> 
> estpost tabulate A B, mi
> esttab using whatever.tex, booktabs replace ///
>  unstack label
> 
> The problem is that esttab exports "_missing_", which causes problems
> in latex. One can substitute("_missing_" "Missing") but it would be
> more straightforward if .-values were labeled properly from the start.
> 
>> If you're concerned about missing string values you could just replace the missing value with whatever you
>> planned to label it as.
> 
> But then they wouldn't be missing.
> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Jan 19, 2013, at 15:24, Bert Lloyd <bert.lloyd.89@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Allow a value label for . (sysmiss, numeric missing value).
>>> 
>>> Extended missing values for string variables.
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