st: checking data using assert

[Raoul Reulen <r.c.reulen@bham.ac.uk>]

Hi All,

I am currently running several do-files in order to check data. I would like Stata to check whether a certain statement is true, e.g. date of birth (dob) < date of death (dod). If it is not true I want it to display a message saying what the problem is and display the ID numbers for those records were the statement was not true. Lastly, I want to list several variables (e,g. id, dob, dox) to inspect the actual problem.

I have done the following, but wondered if there are easier/more efficient ways of doing it?

******************************
.gen byte tag = dod <  dob  
.qui:  levelsof   id    if tag==1
.cap: assert  tag==0
.if _rc di _new as err  "date of death before birth date; see id:   " as text "`r(levels)'"  
.list id dob dod  if tag==1 , noobs N
.drop tag
******************************

Many thanks for help! Appreciated as usual!

All the best

Raoul 
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