Re: st: RE: RE: dictionary problem

[David Kantor <kantor.d@att.net>]

Hello Matthew,

If you have the data in SAS form, you should use Stat/Transfer.
If you are translating SAS code to a dictionary, you should use 
SASdecoder -- available from Circle Systems or from www.essistant-software.com.
I can provide you -- or any other Statalist members -- with an 
evaluation license if you write to me privately: kantor.d@att.net.
HTH
--David


At 09:22 AM 10/16/2013, you wrote:
> Hi Joe:
> Thank you so much for the suggestion. Changing to str8 worked!!! 
> I've been struggling with this issue for a couple of days (trying an 
> assortment of combinations and version, and have brought in several 
> others that I work with). Thank you!!
> Best, Matthew
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu 
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Joe Canner
> Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 9:11 AM
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: st: RE: dictionary problem
>
> Matthew,
>
> I think you need to make the type for osc_1 -str8- instead of 
> -str-.  Stata interprets -str- as a variable name and you apparently 
> had another -str- in the redacted portion of your dictionary.
> You are allowed to use -str- in an infix dictionary, but apparently 
> not in an infile dictionary, even with a format of %8s.
> Incidentally, an infix dictionary might be more suitable for your 
> data, which appears (based on the snippet you provided) to be 
> regular enough that you can get by without the _column and format 
> specifications.
> If money and/or time is no object, I would agree with the previous 
> post that StatTransfer might be worth considering.
> Regards,
> Joe Canner
> Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu 
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of DeMichele, Matthew
> Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 8:48 AM
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: st: dictionary problem
>
> Hello statalisters:
> I've been tasked with transferring SAS setup codes for a large 
> survey into Stata and SPSS. The SPSS conversion has gone pretty 
> smoothly and the setup files run (which makes sense because SAS and 
> SPSS have many programming similarities). Stata, on the other hand, 
> is not going as smoothly.
> I'm new to running Stata dictionary files, so I assume I'm making a 
> simple mistake that may be obvious to the more experienced Stata 
> users. My dct file is abbreviated below (and the variable names and 
> values are altered because of the nature of the collection), as well 
> I've left out several variables in the output just for simplicity 
> sake (i.e., the gap between line 25 and 131). Any suggestions are 
> greatly appreciated.
> Best regards, Matthew
>
> . infile using `dict', using (`raw_data') clear
> dictionary   {
> _lines(1)
> _line(1)
>
> _column 
> (1)  int        db                           %8f                " BIRTH"
> _column 
> (9)  int        pd                      %8f                     " ADMISSION "
> _column (17) 
> int        pr                      %8f                     " RELEASE"
> _column (25) 
> int        pe                              %8f                     " 
> ELIGIBILITY "
> .....
> _column (131) 
> str       osc_1                   %8s                     "OFFENSE #1 -"
> str already defined
> dictionary invalid
> r(614);
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