The table below shows the minimum and maximum values for each storage type. Stata module to change storage type of real variable. Associated with each type of data is its storage type i. These types differ in the range or precision of the values they can hold, type help. Stata module to change storage type of real variable, statistical software components s388902, boston college department of economics. For example, if i am creating a multivariate equation with an independent variable and a dependent variable, and wish to introduce a third variable as a control variable, would it be correct to use. The variables may contain numeric values, but if they are defined as type string. Most of its users work in research, especially in the fields of economics, sociology, political science, biomedicine, and epidemiology statas capabilities include data management, statistical analysis, graphics, simulations, regression, and custom programming. Is there a simple way to change the storage type from str tonumerical. Both storage types are read in using a variant of the import command. Description recast changes the storage type of the variables identi. The storage type of float variables is never changed. You usually dont need to be concerned about the storage mode.
Lets say your date of birth variable is called dob. How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric variables. Similarly, if you have an integer variable, it would be a waste to store it as a double. First, lets ask stata for help about these commands.
If a variable of integer type byte, int, or long is replaced with a noninteger value, its storage type is changed to float or double according to the current set type setting. Download a free trial stattransfer is powerful, flexible, and easy to use. I hope that made sense, i might not even be understanding how stata does panel data correctly. The storage type for numeric variables can be float or byte. Stata has five different types of numeric variable. Change storage type change numeric or string types. Linear regression using stata princeton university. Creating and recoding variables stata learning modules.
Note that it is not possible to directly change the type of a variable. Throughout, bold type will refer to stata commands, while le names, variables names, etc. Instead, we use replace to convert 99 to for string variables familyhx. I cannot see the remaining figures and cannot figure out how to widen the column to view all the numbers or to change the variable type from float to double i followed the display format instructions but this did not work. Incidentally, you dont need a loop to do that as format will take a varlist as argument. Numbers can be stored in one of five variable types. Although the variable science is defined as str2, you can see from the list below that it contains just numeric values. Variable names can have up to 32 characters, but many commands print only 12, and shorter names are easier to type. In this section we will see how to compute variables with. Creating an age variable from a date of brith variable. You can change the personal location with a command like this. Note that stata reports the names of each variable as well as the storage type.
Title recast change storage type of variable syntaxdescriptionoptionremarks and examples also see syntax recast typevarlist, force where type is byte, int, long, float, double, str1, str2, str2045, or strl. Data entered in stata can be classified either as numeric or string type. Dear all, one value of my variable dx in the original excel file is 719. Stata module to change storage type of variable fred wolfe reclink.
It didnt work i guess is because the variable storage type. As always, installing the software does not depend on a sj. Generating a twin using gen and clonevar stata daily. Independent variable are you prone to binge drinking 1yes, 2no dependent variable drinking and driving 1. Stata takes float as the default storage type for its variables.
Computing new variables using generate and replace. Of course, youll need to decide where you want stata to find your personal files the example above is to a file share on prism, but different users may have different network locations they prefer. Change the storage type of a string variable statalist. Variables being numeric or string is in the first instance a matter of variable type or storage type. Even so, because the variable is defined as str2, stata cannot perform any kind of numerical analysis of the variable science. Again, im new to stata, but how woud i go about telling stata to treat a flight, or any xvariable, as only explaining a change in the yvariable a week or so later. When stata does this, the number will look right when you browse, but attempts to run commands will turn up zero observations. Stata is a generalpurpose statistical software package created in 1985 by statacorp. Stata keeps data in memory, and you should record your data as parsimoniously as possible. For information about the software, type help within stata. Often when importing data, stata can mistake a numeric variable for a string variable.
To ensure that old programs and dofiles continue to work properly, when. Its just that i found out that for this purpose, clonevar is better. I am surprised that you seem surprised, as with your syntax the format command not function does indeed just display the format, as is documented. Stata is available on the pcs in the computer lab as well as on the unix system. Is there a simple way to change the storage type from str to numerical. Stata names are case sensitive, age and age are different variables. The way you can tell from describe output is to look in the storage type column.
If you have a string variable that has maximum length 6, it would waste memory to store it as a str20. New version stattransfer is the easiest way to move data between worksheets, databases, and statistical programs since 1986, stattransfer has provided fast, reliable, and convenient data transfer between popular packages for tens of thousands of users, worldwide. It does not just copy the values of the original, but aslo retain the original variables labels, notes, storage type, etc. The storage type of variables can be changed with the help of the recast command. What youre looking for is a numeric storage type anything other than str and a date display format starts with %t, ideally %td. How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric. Anything that starts with str is a string and anything else is a number. Stata 11 introduced a variables manager that allows editing variable names. It pays to develop a convention for naming variables and sticking to it. Openingsaving a stata datafile quick way of finding variables subsetting using conditional if stata color coding system from spsssas to stata example of a dataset in excel from excel to stata copyandpaste. Setting location for personal stata files on iac stats.
Converting variable types from character to numeric numeric data are sometimes imported into variables of type character and it may be desirable to convert these to variables of type numeric. Stata module to provide extended recode capabilities. Change variable name, variable label, values label. I tried keep if date 12 jun 20 also i tried keep if date 12 jun 20. Use this option when there is little or no loss of information as in the conversion of some variables of double type to variables of float type, etc. Similarly, byte, int, and long are usually used to hold integers. There are two ways to deal with this problem, either you change the format of the variable or you change the format of the scalar. This module shows how to create and recode variables. Transfer home stattransfer data conversion software utility. In this case, you want to convert the actual variable, not the format type see here. Mgmt 469 getting your data ready for analysis with. If you see that a variable that is supposed to be numeric has a storage type that starts with str you know statas messed up and you will need to fiddle with your text file to get it right. Many stata users save variable labels to describe the columns in a clearer way than the names.
In stata you can create new variables with generate and you can modify the values of an existing variable with replace and with recode. Getting your data ready for analysis with statistical software. If you run these commands without specifying variables, stata will produce output for every variable. This module may be installed from within stata by typing ssc install doub2flt. How to redetermine column type in stata stack overflow.
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