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st: indexing for first non-missing value
From
James Bernard <[email protected]>
To
[email protected]
Subject
st: indexing for first non-missing value
Date
Wed, 15 May 2013 19:46:09 +0800
Hi all,
I have been dealing with a dataset where I need to copy the value of
the first non-missing value of one variable to create a new variable
called first year observed:
id year first year observed
------- ------------
-----------------------------
A . 1996
A 1996 1996
A 1997 1996
A 1998 1996
A . 1996
A . 1996
B 1998 1998
B 1999 1998
B . 1998
B . 1998
Going through Stata discussions, I found out that one way is to use indexing
bysort id: gen first_year_observed=year[1]
where the bracket indicates the first non-missing value
But this find only the first value, be it missing or non-missing. Is
there any simple indexing way?
Thanks,
James
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