Re: st: forvalues foreach or while loop for sequential variables

[A Loumiotis <antonis.loumiotis@gmail.com>]

another way without defining a new local would be:

replace hosp`num'=. if hosp`num'==hosp`=`num'-1'

Antonis

On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 8:52 AM, Roberto Ferrer <refp16@gmail.com> wrote:
> Elaborating a bit more, according to your example, you intend
> something along the lines of:
>
> *-------- begin code ---------
> clear
> set more off
>
> input obs hosp14  hosp15 hosp16
> 1   1      5    5
> 2   6      9    6
> 3   8      1    3
> 4   5      5    5
> 5   2      2    2
> 6   2      9    1
> 7   1      1    1
> 8   3      1    7
> 9   3      0    4
> end
>
> list
>
> * You have this in a loop
> replace hosp15 = . if hosp15 == hosp14
> list
> *--------- end code ----------
>
> but this compares only contiguos hospitals (14 with 15 and 15 with 16) but not
> hospitals that are "further apart" (14 with 16). This is the case with
> observation 2 in the example data I created. Your loop misses this comparison,
> which I assume is important, i.e., you want hosp16 to equal .
> for that observation because hosp14 already takes the value of 6. If
> the assumption
> is true, this is very problematic.
>
> That said, now take a look at what your variables are evaluating to
> inside the loop
> (use -display- for this):
>
> *-------- begin code ---------
> clear
> set more off
>
> input obs hosp14  hosp15 hosp16
> 1   1      5    5
> 2   6      9    6
> 3   8      1    3
> 4   5      5    5
> 5   2      2    2
> 6   2      9    1
> 7   1      1    1
> 8   3      1    7
> 9   3      0    4
> end
>
> forvalues num=15/16 {
>           display "hosp`num'" // your LHS
>           display "hosp``num'-1'" // your RHS
>           replace hosp`num'=. if hosp`num'==hosp``num'-1'
> }
>
> *--------- end code ----------
>
> The LHS is OK, but the RHS is always evaluating to "hosp". You do not
> specify your
> error in your post (you mention "it didn't work" and you should be
> specific about it)
> but here I get this:
>
> hosp ambiguous abbreviation
> r(111);
>
> Stata doesn't know if you're refering to hosp14, hosp15 or hosp16, and
> so it halts
> with an error.
>
> Because I mess up easily with all the quotes (maybe someone will
> clarify this point),
> my strategy is to declare a new local and then use it for the RHS:
>
> *---
> forvalues num=15/16 {
>           local newnum = `num' - 1
>           replace hosp`num' = . if hosp`num' == hosp`newnum'
> }
> *---
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 1:42 AM, Roberto Ferrer <refp16@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Robbie,
>>
>> Here is one way avoiding the loop and using -reshape-.
>>
>> *-------begin code ---------
>>
>> clear
>> set more off
>>
>> input obs hosp14  hosp15 hosp16
>> 1   1      5    5
>> 2   6      9    6
>> 3   8      1    3
>> 4   5      5    5
>> 5   2      2    2
>> 6   2      9    1
>> 7   1      1    1
>> 8   3      1    7
>> 9   3      0    4
>> end
>>
>> list
>>
>> * Reshape to manipulate
>> reshape long hosp, i(obs) j(hnum)
>>
>> sort obs hosp hnum // important
>> gen hosp2 = hosp
>> by obs: replace hosp2 = . if hosp[_n] == hosp[_n-1]
>>
>> drop hosp
>> rename hosp2 hosp
>>
>> * Take back to original form
>> reshape wide hosp, i(obs) j(hnum)
>> list // compare this with original input
>>
>> *------- end code ---------
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 12:41 AM, Robbie Katz <robbiekatz05@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I have a wide format data with variables with same text and different
>>> numbers attached to them. The variables look like this: hospital1
>>> hospital2 hospital3...hospital15. I want only unique values across
>>> these variable for any one observation. For instance if both hospital
>>> 15 and hospital14 have the same value say, 10, then I want to delete
>>> 10 and replace it with "." for hospital15. Please let me know how I
>>> can run a loop to achieve this.
>>>
>>> I tried the following but it didn't work:
>>> forvalues num=2/15 {
>>>           replace hospital`num'=. if hospital`num'==hospital``num'-1'
>>>   }
>>>
>>> Please help,
>>> Thanks!
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