Re: st: import excel and value labels

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

As Daniel explained, this is standard behaviour.

I see a case for documenting as you ask only if it's done in the same
way for all such -clear- options.
Nick
njcoxstata@gmail.com


On 11 December 2013 10:26, A Loumiotis <antonis.loumiotis@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would like to add though that perhaps there should be a modification
> in the help file of -import excel, clear- so that it is also stated
> that not only the data but also the value labels are cleared from
> memory before loading the excel file.
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 12:15 PM, A Loumiotis
> <antonis.loumiotis@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thank you Daniel for your explanation.  I see now that -import excel,
>> clear- will first clear any existing data and value labels from memory
>> and then load the excel file.
>> Best,
>> Antonis
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 11:39 AM, daniel klein
>> <klein.daniel.81@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Since you -clear- the memory by specifying the respective option, it
>>> seems natural to me. It is the same as
>>>
>>> clear
>>> la de foo 1 "foo"
>>> sysuse auto ,clear
>>> la li foo
>>>
>>> However, defined value labels are also cleared if we do not sepcify
>>> the -clear- option.
>>>
>>> clear
>>> la de foo 1 "foo"
>>> sysuse auto
>>> la li
>>>
>>> This makes me wonder about the "status" of value labels. They
>>> obviously are not regarded as changes to the dataset -- otherwise
>>> there would be therespective error message and return code  r(4) . One
>>> migth argue that there should be a similar error message to remind you
>>> of the fact that you are about to lose your defined value labels - but
>>> cerainly not if you explicitly specified a -clear- option.
>>>
>>> See -label save- for a way to preserve the value labels before
>>> importing a dataset.
>>>
>>> Best
>>> Daniel
>>>
>>> --
>>> I noticed that whenever I load an excel file in Stata using -import
>>> excel- the existing values labels are deleted.  Is this the normal
>>> behavior of -import excel-?
>>>
>>> Here is an example:
>>>
>>> . label define test 1 "yes" 2 "no"
>>>
>>> . label l test
>>> test:
>>>            1 yes
>>>            2 no
>>>
>>> . import excel book1.xlsx, clear first
>>>
>>> . label l test
>>> value label test not found
>>> r(111);
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