![]() ![]() The capability to read variable names is one advantage -insheet- has over -infile. infile-, unlike -insheet-, does not recognize variable names in the data. Note that the first line of the data above are not variable names. Infile year str15 country population using population.csv, clear For example, the comma-delimited file in our previous post, population.csv, with the following data:Ĭan also be loaded into Stata, by typing: Here, we will introduce the more flexible data input command -infile-, which can read both delimited and free format text files. In Which data input command: -infile- or -insheet-?, we introduced the input command -insheet. You can load this file into Stata with the help of the data dictionary, fies.dct, that accompanies the data, fies.dat: ![]() The image above-a string of numbers broken by blank spaces-is taken from a FIES data file. The Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) of the Philippines is another example of fixed-width data, with a dictionary in a separate file. We can save this as population.dct file, and load into Stata by typing: *end of data (Note: the lines are only used to represent the blank spaces to fill in the allotted columns for each variable)*/ _column(20) float population %10f "Population" For example, we can write a dictionary for our population data above as: The dictionary may also contain the labels of each variable. The dictionary contains the following information: storage type, data format, variable name, and the starting column (or length of each variable). The dictionary and data may be in a single file or in two separate files. For example, the following data is a 29-column data, where columns 1-4 are allotted for the 4-digit year columns 5-19 is for a country name and columns 20-29 is for the data on population (I used the lines to represent the spaces to fill in the space allotted for each variable):Ī data dictionary, a text file that instructs Stata how to read and store the contents of the data file, is required to load fixed-format data. But, what is a fixed-format (also fixed-width) data file? A fixed-format data is a text file wherein the format is specified by the length of each variable. You may also install -renvars- by typing "search renvars", then click on "dm88_1" and then click "(click here to install)".Īs we mentioned in Part 2 of this series, -infile- is used to load fixed-format data into Stata. Server says file temporarily redirected to Note: Sometimes "net install dm88_1" returns the error: renames population to x_population and income to x_income / *renames population to pop and income to inc */ * renames population to POPULATION and income to INCOME */ ![]() * renames population to pop and income to inc */ It allows you to rename more than one variable at once, it can change the case of the variable names, and more. renvars-, if installed, is the most flexible. Why? Because, the first character of variable names cannot be numbers. To drop the prefix export in the variable names, type: The syntax for -renpfix- is:įor example, to change the prefix exportshare of the variables If, instead, you just want to replace the prefix of variables, use -renpfix. Rename old_variable_name new_variable_nameįor example, to rename the variable _Income to income, type: ![]() If you only need to rename one variable, use -rename. renvars- (Weesie and Cox, 2005) is not available in the original package of Stata, but you may download and install it by typing:ĭo you need all these 3 renaming commands? Not really, but you will see that in some cases one is more convenient to use than the others. Renaming variables are made easy by the commands -rename-, -renpfix-, and -renvars. A variable name may contain only the digits 0 to 9 and upper or lower case English alphabets (A to Z) and the first character cannot be a number. Not all characters in the keyboard, however, are allowed in naming variables. What are acceptable variable names? How do you use the commands -rename-, -renpfix-, and -renvars- to rename variable names?Ī Stata variable name can contain up to 32 characters in any version of Stata (Small, Stata/IC, Stata/SE, or Stata/MP). ![]()
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