Sometimes, for whatever reason, stata incorrectly calls a categorical variable a string variable. A stata date is simply a number, but with the %td format applied stata. The date function takes two arguments, the string to be converted. In this case, you want to convert the actual variable, not the format type see here. Convert numbers stored as text to numbers office support. How to convert string to matrix matlab answers matlab central. February 1, 1960 or 211960 in order to use stata time series commands and tsset this needs to be converted to a number that stat understands. Introduction to stata generating variables using the generate, replace, and label commands duration. Since weve 480 cases in our data, were done for s1.
Converting string dates to a numeric date difficult dates are often given in data sets as string variables e. I want to change this to a string variable so that i can then substring it and create variables based on just date and just time separately. Datetime data analysis with stata library guides at. Changing string variables to numbers in stata youtube.
If you are storing an identification number like we are, we need our values to be stored with perfect accuracy. Written and illustrated tutorials for the statistical software spss. And i have tried with your steps, but it said no generate. How can i turn a string variable containing dates into a. In some scenarios, it is necessary to convert a field of string text values in an attribute table to numeric values, typically because the original data type was not set or recognized, or.
There may be times that you receive a file that has many or all of the variables defined as strings, that is. Numbers that are stored as text can cause unexpected results. Datestringvar, date format so here string var is the variable name, and date format it where you tell stata how the date is formatted, so in your second dataset it would be day, month, year so you would put dmy with quotes as the. Most software stores dates and times numerically, as durations from some sentinel date, but they differ on the sentinel date and on the units in which the duration is stored. Stata news, code tips and tricks, questions, and discussion. If a variable is a string, the type will be str followed by some number.
Destring country names and year statalist the stata forum. More specific, how to convert firmlevel data from the world bank enterprise survey. Also, the replace option of tostring doesnt take other parameters. Reed college stata help changing string variables to. With convert keyword, you can convert a variable type from string to numeric. See help encode for details, or better yet, read the entire description of the encode command in the stata datamanagement reference manual pdf accessible from the pdf documentation entry on stata.
For stata, a string is any data characterthat is not a number or missing value denoted by the full stop. How do i convert my icd9 codes from a string type to a numeric type. Since string cannot be used for analysis, it should be converted to numeric. How to extract few letters of a string variable in stata.
For example, create a character vector using single quotes and convert it to the number it represents. The easiest way to tell if this is the case is to look at the variables window. The videos help you convert from string to numeric, change variable type and finally gives you the basic tools in stata. Following is a sample program using a stringstream to convert string to int. Stack overflow for teams is a private, secure spot for you and your coworkers to find and share information. For dates stored as strings, the date function does the conversion flawlessly. In the example above, a8 indicates a string variable eight characters long, and f2. If you have a string variable that has only numbers in. Cross sectional units in my panel data set are currently identified by names string variables.
A quick browse at the data indicates the presence of hyphens and that these were used in different ways. Convert from a string to a numeric data type in labview. With recode, you can change the values of an existing variable. Notice, if it matters to you that this does not convert a numeric variable to a string variable. How to count total number of string value occurrence per. In spss, recoding categorical string variables to numeric codes and converting blank strings to missing values can be done automatically using automatic recode. I need help with changing a variable from numeric to string. Stata stores dates as the number of days since 01jan1960, and datetimes as the number. If your variable contains just whole numbers like our id variable and is up to 9 digits, you can store it as a long integer, or if it can be up to 16 digits, you can store it as a double. I have the following time stamps in string format in my stata file. Changing string variables to numbers in stata duration.
In stata, how do i display numeric values with commas inserted. Sep 08, 2016 in order to convert an xls spreadsheet file. The first line of syntax reads in the dataset shown above. When coding these steps in stata, users nd that stata does not allow string values in matrices. This conversion can be done using the string function with an option for the format. Convert spss string variables into numeric ones the right way. Converting numeric into string using the value labels. There are two common methods to convert strings to numbers. Stata stores dates as the number of days since 01jan1960, and datetimes as the number of milliseconds since 01jan1960 00. The begin data and end data commands enclose the raw data. Many stata users also wish to convert numeric data to strings and keep the leading zeros, which is good for u. Quickly master the trick with a stepbystep example on downloadable practice data. We can convert the numeric codes back to string using. How to convert a string variable to a numeric variable.
How to convert string into numeric form in spss without losing the data. The following document provides an example of how to create. Because there is no basic number operations that returns the first 2digit of a number. The correct way to handle dates in stata is to convert them to a number measured in days elapsed since january 1, 1960. However, the other 3 variables contain system missings so we. Cox and newton 2014 provide a detailed description of indispensable tools for dealing with lists and macros. How to count total number of string value occurrence per observation in stata. If you have a string variable that has only numbers in it, then you can alternatively use the real function. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Spss how to convert string variables into numeric ones.
Often when importing data, stata can mistake a numeric variable for a string variable. Users of any of the software, ideas, data, or other materials published in the. Stata converting a string into a numeric variable dr mohammad ali aldahrawi. And, you can choose a perpetual licence, with nothing more to buy ever. A very basic question i would appreciate help with. Data conversion string to numeric solutions experts. For example, suppose a numeric variable gnp has a value of 12345678. Convert dta file to exceldownload free software programs. Convert variable values from character to numeric or from numeric to character the input and put functions convert values for a variable from character to. The easiest way to convert string variables to numeric form is to use the encode command.
We are here to help, but wont do your homework or help you pirate software. How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric variables. One method of converting numbers stored as strings into numerical variables is to use a string function called real that translates numeric values stored as strings into numeric values stata can recognize as such. How to convert pdf to word without software duration. Whats the difference between a string of numbers and a set.
Odd numbers of characters in string variables were soon allowed in stata 2. I want to make an integer variable out of it such that it has a new ascending value for each new unit. The best function to convert string dates to numeric is the date function, which takes two arguments. Instructor in this session,were going to explore string variables,and learn how can use stata to manipulate string information. Code is the variable name and a12 indicates string variable type with width 12 3. Mar 01, 2018 have you tried typing code help destringcode. Dear all, please help me to convert the following time variable from string to numeric. 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. String data is commonand examples include geographical information,gender information, think m, think f,or possibly date information. If a string field contains values with nonnumeric characters or symbols, the value of that cell remains by default when converting to the numeric field.
How to create a date variable from a date stored as a string duration. It can convert character vectors, string arrays, and cell arrays of character vectors. The recommended way to convert text to doubleprecision values is to use the str2double function. When stata does this, the number will look right when you browse, but attempts to run commands will turn up zero observations. How do i convert to a floating point numeric representation from a string. How to convert string into numeric form in spss without. I suspect you want to do this but without seeing your variable names its just guesswork. Stata converting a string into a numeric variable youtube. How to destring nonnumerical values within stata quora. Changing a numeric to a string variable in stata stack overflow. I have a string that represents numbers with a comma for the decimal point instead of a period. Try making a calculated field using the appropriate type conversion function maybe something like intpage view and then use this calc field as a measure.
I need to convert a string to a numeric data type, but it is cutting off the numbers following the decimal place. Instead of destring, you want encode to assign numeric values to string variables that, like the country names in your var1, are more than just numbers represented as strings. Converting string to number tableau community forums. In spss, how do i convert between numeric variables and.
Note that while using list, and some other data display commands, produces values that look like string dates, the actual values stored by stata are numeric. Hello sreekanth, if you have a small abc symbol in front of the field, most probably it is recognized by tableau as a string, and not as a number maybe due to trailing spaces, records containing nonnumeric values, etc. How do i make the first letter of a string uppercase in javascript. Common tasks with string variables include matching a pattern or searching a location in a string, parsing or subsetting a string, concatenating strings, converting a string to a number etc. The first case most often occurs when importing data from another source. However sometimes the variables which has numerical value is taken as string variable. Not only is stata output difficult to format, you will probably need to run your code many times, and you wont want to repeat this step. To convert a string field to a number field, create a new number field, and copy the values from the original field to the new field. This is an easy way to convert strings of digits into ints, floats or doubles.
How can i quickly convert many string variables to numeric. Mar 10, 2015 in a stata training, one of the students wondered why after importing an excel file of financial indicators into stata some were read as strings. And, second,you take the subset of the string and call it something else. May 14, 2017 this feature is not available right now. Converting string to numeric in stata stack overflow. Jan 05, 2011 most software stores dates and times numerically, as durations from some sentinel date, but they differ on the sentinel date and on the units in which the duration is stored. Dec 01, 2016 this video demonstrates how to convert categorical string variables to labeled numeric variables. I need to convert my string data with a comma for the decimal point to numeric data. Stata module mata to provide various functions, statistical software components s455001, boston college department of economics, revised 21 aug 2019. How to convert categorical string variables to labeled numeric variables. Once the data is entered into stata, it automatically defines the storage type of the data. Say that we have date variable in the following format and we want to convert it to stata format. Why am i losing precision with large whole numbers such.
Harrison 2006 acknowledges this issue and suggests an algorithm that relies on the listing of the string characteristics of variables. How to convert numeric date to stata date stataprofessor. The analysis can be done by using mvprobit program in stata. 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. Or, do the following if that button isnt available. If you have a string variable and want to convert it to a numeric variable, you can use the encode command. I had a big dataset on prescriptions in patients in wide stata format. Read the stata manual for a full list of string functions. Stata is a complete, integrated software package that provides all your data science needsdata manipulation, visualization, statistics, and automated reporting. Select the cells, and then click to choose a convert option. Stata output is difficult to copy and paste into word or excel. May 01, 2019 the correct way to handle dates in stata is to convert them to a number measured in days elapsed since january 1, 1960. Stata is not sold in modules, which means you get everything you need in one package. Stata module to decode a numeric variable into a string variable, statistical software components s417702, boston college department of economics, revised 30 sep 20.
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