Encode string variable stata software

The reals is the function that translates the values held as strings, where s is the variable containing strings. In stata, this can be done by using either gen or egen. Over lunch today, a friend asked how to generate a new variable that will have unique numeric ids corresponding to the string values in an existing variable. Why does the command complain that there are no observations. How to create a date variable from a date stored as a string duration. This module should be installed from within stata by typing ssc install multencode. Instead of assigning numerical codes based on the alphanumeric order of the string variable, they can be assigned using the order in which the values appear in the original dataset. Transform string variable to categorical integer variable. Stata module to decode a numeric variable into a string variable, statistical software components s417702, boston college department of economics, revised 30 sep 20. To create dummy variables from variable group, you may use tab group, geng, or use a factor variable, e.

This only works if your original string variable is spelled consistently. It then alphabetizes that list and assigns numeric codes to each entry. Encode assigns numerical values 1, 2, to newvar, while the original values e. Note that while using list, and some other data display commands, produces values that look like string dates, the actual values stored by. Why doesnt the destring command in stata include an encode option. Statas encode command starts with a string variable and creates a new integer variable with labels mapped to the original string variable.

Software like stata, an integrated statistical software package, can help. In this course, franz buscha provides a comprehensive introduction to stata and its various uses in modern data analysis. To concatenate is to join the characters of 2 or more variables from end to end. Statistical software components from boston college department of economics. The entries in variable code, with numeric format %06. For example, the new variable cnum below created by encode will have value 1 for boston since it the first alphabetically. How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric variables. How to convert a string variable to a numeric variable. This tells you that there is a nonnumeric character in a variable that you expect to be all numeric, but it does not tell you what the character. The userwritten command sencode super encode by roger newson, and available running ssc describe sencode can be used for what you want. As example, suppose we have the variables var1, var2, and var3. Stata stata for econ capstone search this guide search. Running this command will cause stata to make a new numeric categorical variable wherein the data has labels that correspond to the old string values.

The suggested citation for this software is statacorp. The second command formats the numeric value so that when stata displays the date, it is in a form that is easy for humans to read. In the sample data file, the variable state is a string variable representing whether the student is an instate student or an outofstate student. How can i produce a tabulation of a string variable that is listed in logical rather than alphabetical order. There may be times that you receive a file that has many or all of the variables defined as strings, that is, character variables. To be able to perform any mathematical operations, your variables need to be in a numeric format. How to destring nonnumerical values within stata quora. My comments are basically the same as the other commenter. Suppose you have a 6digit numeric observation id, code, where the first 2 digits represent geographic code and the last 4 digits represent unique observation codes, and you want to generate a new variable, reg, that represents the 2digit geographic code. The first line of syntax reads in the dataset shown above. If you create a frequency table of this variable analyze descriptive statistics frequencies, you will notice something strange.

We wish to run a regression of high blood pressure on race, sex, and age group. In particular, there are dozens of functions that refer to string variables, and i will cover only a very small and arbitrary selection. How can i convert string variables to numeric variables in stata. Stata module to encode a string variable nonalphanumerically into a numeric variable. Anyway, you can use unicode characters in your data, of course. Assuming sic0 is a one digit numeric variable, you ought to use. Very obviously, it will split it into two ore more parts.

What you might not expect is that you can use unicode in your variable names, macro names, and everywhere else stata wants a name or identifier. The easiest way to convert string variables to numeric form is to use the encode command. With encode, you need to specify the, generate option and give it a new variable name. How do i assign the values of one variable as the value. Dear all, i have a question with regard to the code destring and encode. Stata is agile and easy to use, automate, and extend, helping you perform data manipulation, visualization, and modeling for extremely large data sets. Odd numbers of characters in string variables were soon allowed in stata 2. However, the command encode does it based on the alphabetical order of the string values, not based on the values of the numeric variable in the data set that we want to match it to. For those who care, stata uses unicodes utf8 encoding. It takes, as input, a string variable, and generates, as output, a numeric variable, with value labels corresponding to values of the string variable. The program can be installed by typing the following from the stata command window. If you have more than 67,784 unique values of the string variables that you are encoding, encode will complain.

One simple way is to add an observation which is missing in all other but the date variables where you simply put a. Title syntax menu description options for encode stata. The module is made available under terms of the gpl. In a case where your string variables are in fact strings e. Reed college stata help changing string variables to. Stata module to encode a string variable nonalphanumerically. The destring function is a good example of statas builtin functions having a knack for knowing what youre trying to do and providing a pretty. How can i turn a string variable containing dates into a. The module is made available under terms of the gpl v3. The dataset has 435 observations in all, and spss reports that there are zero missing values. In stata this is often true because stata treats stringencoded variables as missing and will not use them in analyses. When cleaning datasets one often has string variables containing categories e. How to extract few letters of a string variable in stata. Managing time variables in stata and spss statatex blog.

This module may be installed from within stata by typing ssc install sencode. That will give you a list of values that stata did not destring and you can make the changes to the new variable as needed. A simple way of transforming such a variable to one variable containing the same information is encode. Stata can store numbers with differing levels of precision, as described in the table below. Stata module to encode a string variable nonalphanumerically into a numeric variable, statistical software components s417701, boston college department of economics, revised 30 sep 20.

Stata module to encode multiple string variables into numeric, statistical software components s456993, boston college department of economics, revised 21 jan 2009. Here is one example where you need to preserve the numerical format for strings. Alternatively, consider the communitycontributed program multencode ssc. The direct analog of this in pandas would now be the categorical variable type which became a fullfledged part of pandas starting in 0. With destring, you need to specify either the, generate option or the, replace option. If the variable is actually a numeric value that just happens to be stored as a string, see our faq.

First, use describe to reassure yourself that it is a string. Learn how to change string variables into numeric variables and numeric variables into string variables in stata. How can i convert string variables to numeric variables in. In my regressions, i have real string variables that contain nonnumeric text like country names or industries and variables that are string variables, but that contain meaningful numeric text like 5. This module may be installed from within stata by typing ssc install sdecode. How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric. Converting string to numeric variables is easy with destring help destring.