But if you want to do the same for all variables with a common suffix, things get more complicated, because the. A stata variable name can contain up to 32 characters in any version of stata. Add a suffix or prefix to a group of variable names the sample code on the full code tab illustrates how to add a suffix or prefix to a group of variables in a data set. To create a new variable or to transform an old variable into a new one, usually, is a simple task in r. Stata assumes that variable names are the first row of data in text files. What command can i use to select variables containing specific pattern in stata. Note that obviously you cannot use variable lists here. The name hidden variables may be slightly more dramatic than need be. In the above example, hello, can be used as the name of a. A using variables, expressions, wildcards, and string interpolation. In your code, renvars sj is adding the prefix longprefix to the variable names in the bg2 dataset. Options for changing the case of groups of variable names. Not all characters in the keyboard, however, are allowed in naming variables.
Its just an old command that does one of many things that the much more general rename can do, so its flagged as outofdate, but if you know the syntax, it will work so long as what you ask is legal. The variable names in stata cant start with a number, so, if the first row of observations contains only numbers e. Create a new variable based on existing data in stata. The program can be installed by typing the following from the stata.
Because the hashtag code assumes the variables in the interaction term are categorical, it is necessary to define numerical variables as numerical with the c. If you want to use variables that have a common prefix but have a variety of suffixes, you can use the colon operator. We need to just add asdoc as a prefix to stata commands. Adding prefix to many variable names to prep for reshape. This module should be installed from within stata by typing ssc install fpref. Finally, if you are using nicco, aristotle or the rs6000 cluster, there is a command specifically for converting sas data into stata called sas2stata. Following are examples of how to create new variables in stata using the gen short for generate and egen commands to create a new variable for example, newvar and set its value to 0, use. However, i need only those variables that have certain characters. Do you prefix variable names with an abbreviation of the. Automatically renaming common variables before merging.
If you have sas data you want to convert to stata, this may be a useful way to get your sas data into stata. If there are additional common variables, sas saves only the last values encountered. Renaming a group of variables with the same prefix sas. Variables are always added horizontally in a data frame.
The basic specification is an old variable name, an equals sign, and the new variable name. Baums an introduction to stata programming, second edition, is a great reference for anyone that wants to learn stata programming. Is it possible to impute longitudinal data in the long format. Spss statistics is a software package used for statistical analysis. How to add a common prefix to all variables in stata 12. I have many variables that need to be reshaped from wide form to long form. There is no need to encode the type of the variable in its name. Sometimes it is convenient to be able to have variable variable names.
We are going to change the prefix and still use the same index. However, systems hungarian is actually a misunderstanding of the original, real hungarian. Several variables can be renamed with a single command, as in. We have a list of variables, and the name for each variable consists of the original name plus a common suffix. How to automate common tasks timberlake consultants.
What command can i use to select variables containing. Data data utilities rename groups of variables description rename changes the name of existing variable old varname to new varname. I am asked to provide syntax to merge several datasets from a panel survey same cases interviewed on several occasions. An introduction to stata programming, second edition. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Renaming a group of variables with the same prefix posted 02022015 15184 views in reply to walternate explore using proc datasets modify with rename sas code can be generated then %include, based on the output of a proc contents with out or otherwise manually coded ifwhere the sas variable names are known and expected to be. Thanks you guys, i think that trick is very helpful. Introduction asdoc sends stata output to word rtf format. It can be used to rename all, or a subset, of the variables.
Yes all i was missing is the comma, and after adding that using the renvars command from the stata journal worked just fine for what i needed. Using variables, expressions, wildcards, and string. The to and all keywords may be used and the entire specification should be enclosed in quotes. A variable variable takes the value of a variable and treats that as the name of a variable. Looking at the documentation it looks like i have to use. For compatibility reasons older versions of the software the colon is not required for some prefix commands, and various shortcuts exist. We intend to use what is typed as a prefix or suffix to a variable name, so that string must itself not contain anything that would be illegal in a variable name. Each is the name of a county and the values represent the population at different age groups. Adding prefix to many variable names to prep for reshape statalist. This paper shows how to automatically rename common variables. Adding prefix to many variable names to prep for reshape 16 sep 2015, 08. Adding a prefix to variable names dear list, data managers in my office have cut corners and put similar data from. The common function to use is newvariable oldvariable. For those learning, baum assumes familiarity with stata and gradually introduces more advanced programming tools.
Whatever they type must be a legal stata variable name. Spssx discussion add a suffix to all variable names. In apps hungarian, you dont encode the type in the variable name, you encode the kind of the variable. If the name of the variable is ambiguous, add braces to the name. Another nice little improvement would be to add a label to our new variable.
When the names are in common, the variables are numbered sequentially, but they are not stored. The desired suffix should be enclosed in quotes as well. Systems hungarian is completely useless and should be avoided. I am going to add prefix ahead of each variable,eg listed below the sample dataset. Inputting your data into stata stata learning modules. This post demonstrates how to create new variables, recode existing variables and label variables and values of variables. Following spss syntax conventions, variable names should be separated by spaces. We add the option clear to clear any data in memory first before importing. Stata module to add prefix or suffix to filenames, statistical software components s457178, boston college department of economics. A few spss loops for renaming variables dynamically spss code fragments. If fromvar has no variable label, the name of fromvar becomes the variable label of tovar. Automatically renaming common variables before merging christopher j.
The original hungarian notation uses intention or kind in its naming convention and is sometimes called apps hungarian as it became popular in the microsoft apps division in the development of word, excel and. We have a list of variables defined by a prefix followed by an index number. This syntax will add a suffix to one, many or all variables in your data. Understand that whenever stata wants a varlist it can be a list of variables, such as. I would like to program a loop in stata to change the name a long list of variables ending with. That is, a variable name which can be set and used dynamically. In stata, under the one data principal, any information in the data 11 must be in a variable. Hungarian notation is an identifier naming convention in computer programming, in which the name of a variable or function indicates its intention or kind, and in some dialects its type. How to create, rename, recode and merge variables in r. For example, for the id variable is it possible to rename 1,2,3,4,5 to sk1, sk2, sk3 etc etc. Natasha sarkisian labeling and naming variables, values, datasets naming variables variable names in stata can have up to 32 characters, but it is a good idea to keep them much shorter as it is easier to type, plus many commands print only 12. When using names in your code try to be explicit, when generating variables, label them.
Sofware carpentry helping scientists make better software since. Also seed rename group for renaming groups of variables. Prefixes can be a huge help in avoiding confusion and ambiguities. Here we use the generate command to create a new variable representing population younger than 18 years. I would like to write and use a program to effect the change. Variable names can be specified right behind variables. You can also use upper and lower case letters for different objects remember stata is case. In this case, 1 the stub should be inc, which is the variable to be converted from wide to long, 2 i is the id variable, which is the unique identifier of observations in wide form, and 3 j is the year variable that i am going to create it tells stata that suffix of inc i. A numeral such as 1 would be illegal as the first character in a variable name. In the same light is there a way to add a prefix or suffix to all entries of one variable. There is nothing out of order in using renpfix in stata 12. Adds prefix jan to all variables ending in pop, for example, age1pop. Spssx discussion adding a prefix to variable names. Imputing in stata add prefixes to all imputed variables for example which can make reshaping the data difficult.
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