Is there any possibility to set the maximum length of variable names to the same length either 28, 29 or some other maximum in order to avoid problems when doing the same analysis using stata under macintosh and windows. During data transfer, the number is set to the minimum or maximum allowable on that operating system, so 1e100 on a pc is converted to a value. I am encountering the problem that one of the arguments of. When converting from sas to stata, stattransfer puts the excess characters into a note, but it would be more convenient when i export from stata to worksheets first row for my colleagues to work up if i didnt need to workaround statas variable label length limit. Maximum length of a string expression in a program. Songfeng zheng in the previous lectures, we demonstrated the basic procedure of mle, and studied some examples. Labeling data stata learning modules this module will show how to create labels for your data. Similar to changing the number format, the command to change the string format is format %string length s variable name with the optional before the number to align the display to the left. Any character vector that exceeds namelengthmax is. It stores both in the current working directory in stata use the command pwd to get the path with the dataset name hsb2. Do not use the length statement if your variable values are not integers. Create a new variable based on existing data in stata. Subtracting the position of the last space from the length of the name returns the length of the last name.
While allowable variable names have gotten longer, limits remain. Aug 03, 2016 thou shalt not create a variable name of more than 32 characters in length. In the studied examples, we are lucky that we can find the mle by solving equations in closed form. What command can i use to select variables containing specific pattern in stata. Id assume that name length has no affect on runtime performance after it is compiled with javascript jit compilers.
The issue behind most limits is memory, but my strong impression is that the issue with variable names is just space to show results. The stata website is also a repository for datasets used in the stata manuals and in a number of statistical books. The second data step uses the macro variable to create a new variable that is a copy of age. Jun 25, 2012 stata does not accept numeric variable names, so import excel has to use the excel column name c, d, for the variable names instead of 2001, 2002. My point was how i can disable the 32character limit on variable name.
Dear statalisters, i have a question related to programming a new programado file. Here is the stata command to load and convert the stata dataset hsb2. The asterisk stands for a sequence of any characters and now may be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a varlist. The stata blog using import excel with real world data.
Illegal characters in stata variable names 07 aug 2014, 23. Yes scans the length of text data for a data source column and uses the length of the longest string of data that it finds as the sas variable width. This faq page demonstrates the use of traditional methods and introduces sas special characters for reading in messy data with a character variable of varying length. If the maximum length that it finds is greater than the value in the textsize option, the smaller value in textsize option is applied as the sas variable width. I am working on this dataset with a number of other people, all of whom use spss, which has a much higher limit. Like many other powerful commands, it can seem rather complicated until you have experience with it.
For a detailed discussion of display columns, see u12. Variable names now have a maximum length of 32 characters. There are standard stata commands that do this too. Maximum likelihood estimation by r missouri state university. Construct valid variable name from string matlab genvarname. The rules are more flexible for sas variable names than for other language elements. Maximum likelihood estimation in stata and mata econ626.
Stata ships with a number of small datasets, type sysuse dir to get a list. For example, suppose a numeric variable gnp has a value of 12345678. The reluctance of stata to change the length limit does not, i think, arise from any memory limit that would bite hard, but from the fact that variable labels much over 80 characters would hardly be readable in most cases. For each observation, find the variable that contains the. Also, long variable names in databases which is a major problem in. The other day i encountered an article in the sas knowledge base that shows how to write a macro that returns the variable name that contains the maximum or minimum value across an observation.
Aug 10, 2010 finding the max of a variable and then using it. Although spss can read almost any ascii file and deduce parameters for some of these variable attributes, any other attributes must be typed in by hand, which is tedious for large datasets. The default version of stata is stata, though that will soon be changed to stata 14. This project develops an algorithm to combine datasets using inexact character variables. In stata, how do i display numeric values with commas inserted. The files have been tested with the spss windows software, version 20. Most questions about its use can be answered from a careful reading of the manual entry at d reshape, but some further notes and examples are added here for the specific problem of reshaping e. In this section we discuss how to read raw data files. Variable names for spss data files the following rules apply to variable names when editing an spss data file in wincross. The simple solution is to rename the column headers in excel to something like y2001, y2002, etc. The limit on length of variable names is in recent versions of stata 32 characters and not adjustable. This document briefly summarizes stata commands useful in econ4570 econometrics. Intercooled stata 7 users may upgrade online to obtain statase via a web update. For a start, you need to state the source of this program.
If you try to save your database using version 12 through the saveold command, it is mandatory that all variable labels have at most 80 characters. The length statement restricts the label in the name literal to 32 characters so that it will be a valid sas variable name. It calculates some other quantities besides the mean, and the maximum is one. However, if string2 has greater length then string1, obtain the maximum number of character.
However, if this need arises for example, because you are developing a new. How to change a variables length without change its position. The name can contain special and multibyte characters not to exceed 32 bytes. The metadata program would create a text file using the file. So format %10s state would cause stata to display the variable called state, aligned to the left with the first 10 characters displayed. Illegal characters in stata variable names statalist. It looks like the program is making some temporary variables and its doing it by adding stuff to your existing variable name. Basically, stata is a software that allows you to store and manage data large and small data sets, undertake statistical analysis on your data, and create some really nice graphs. The total size of the data file is on average approximately 40m bytes, depending on the sample size, with the largest files being over 380 m bytes in size. Therefore, concatenating 3 strings with length 20 results in a string with length 60. What command can i use to select variables containing. Demographic and health surveys individual recode data file measure dhs dhs v. These limits are a substantial increase from those of intercooled stata with its 2,047 maximum variables, 80character maximum string length, and an 800 x 800 maximum size of matrices. Maximum likelihood estimation by r mth 541643 instructor.
Spss file specifications openclinica reference guide. Here is an example showing how to read the variable id as a long integer. Note that the macro variable has the same name as the original variable. Just googling around, i see that sas has the same 32 character limit. I doubt there is any stata command that does this, only userwritten commands. The longest variable label in the dataset is 210 characters long. Commandments for variable naming and data management.
Throughout, bold type will refer to stata commands, while le names, variables names, etc. Obtain value corresponding to max value of another. Fixed format data are handled using a fortrantype format statement in the data command block. Stata software versions or higher accept longer variable labels. I imagine wildly that stata works on possible names from left to right. Statalist finding the max of a variable and then using it. When we view a description of the new numeric variable stage, we see that stata has applied a value label called stage, which makes the values along the columns appear as i, ii, iii, and iv, while the variable label cancerstage makes the variable name appear as cancerstage atop the columns. When you select the spss format for an exported dataset, openclinica produces a package of files for use by the spss program. Is it possible to obtain in stata the observation value in one variable that corresponds to the max of another variable. Therefore, some variables would have a name longer than 32 and the program returned an.
Thus, it is rare that you will have to program a maximum likelihood estimator yourself. Imagine even a modest increase in variable name length to 64 characters. Commandments for variable naming and data management built. Stata allows you to label your data file data label, to label the variables within your data file variable labels, and to label the values for your variables value labels.
The first character must be an english letter a, b, c. I much prefer stata, so i always convert the spss dataset to stata format to work on it. This half of the page shows how to read in a character variable with a single word with varying length when the dataset. This screams of general reference, but i cant seem to find the answer. The length of the reco rds in the data file is fixed, exceeding 4000 characters in total.
Maximum length of variable name in javascript stack overflow. Improving on stata s name choice is no doubt possible, but not trivial to achieve. User support for stata increasing the variable label. Stata is available on the pcs in the computer lab as well as on the unix system. In stata, how do i display numeric values with commas. I must admit i had never seen this replacing a variable directly with a tested condition. When the character variable contains only a single word. Could stata please double the number of characters allowed in a variable name from 32 to 64. Maximum length of a string variable is 244 characters.
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. But you do want the meanonly option to make summarize go as fast as possible. If you try to save your database using version 12 through the saveold command, it is mandatory that all variable labels have at most 80 characters labtrunc12 truncates all variable labels exceeding the maximum length and allows you to save your database using an older stata version. Each morning i have to set my memory size to, say, 20m. You can also use stata to rename the column headers. A stata variable name can contain up to 32 characters in any version of stata small, stataic, statase, or statamp. The primary purpose of variable labels in stata is surely better labelling of variables within tables and graphs. If your identification variable was over 16 digits long, you could store the variable as a string variable without any loss of precision but you would not be able to do any numerical computations with it.
Keyword maximum length notes variable name 32 characters function name. A variable name may contain only the digits 0 to 9 and upper or lower case english alphabets a to z. Maximum likelihoodbased methods are now so common that most statistical software packages have \canned routines for many of those methods. Variable names for spss data files the analytical group. In recent versions of stata, the function is called strlen but the older name length continues to work. Then after storing them i can delete the first row and use the shorter variable names in programscode that might bite if i had 32 character. String variable 244 characters dataset label 80 characters. These are followed by one variable of length one f1. Lets revise this description to fill in gaps and correct misstatements. Stata commands, variable names, and options can be abbreviated to the shortest string. For most users, the number of display columns equals the number of characters. James is using diff, a userwritten program from ssc. This software is commonly used among health researchers, particularly those working with very large data sets, because it is a powerful software that allows you to. Not all characters in the keyboard, however, are allowed in naming variables.
The length of a sas name depends on the element it is assigned to. Therefore, some variables would have a name longer than 32 and the program returned an error. Perhaps just a minor initial parsing slowdown and a slightly longer js file download time on unminified code. Generate variable containing number of characters in a string variable. Sas variable names can be up to 32 characters in length. Copy a variable by putting the original variable name to the right of the equals sign, or transform it using arithmetic e. Can analyze data sets with as many as 32,767 variables, and the only limit on observations is the amount of ram on your computer. How do i read in a character variable with varying length in. To avoid problems from particularly long and unwieldy names, we propose a strict maximum of 32 characters. Such a requirement will arise when names from different database records that do not agree. What are the restrictions as to what characters and maybe other restrictions can be used for a variable name in r. Sas will assume the minimum possible length for that variable by default. Basics of stata this handout is intended as an introduction to stata.
For the latest version, open it from the course disk space. How to determine max record length in dataset sas support. That number will be the max length of the number of characters needed for a single observation, but do remember that when the data are stored in a sas dataset, there is some overhead to how the dataset is organized because of the header information that sas stores. Thou shalt not create a variable name of more than 32 characters in length. A valid matlab variable name is a character vector of letters, digits, and underscores, such that the first character is a letter, and the length of the vector is less than or equal to the value returned by the namelengthmax function. The asterisk notation for abbreviating varlist is extended. To insert commas into the numeric value, use this command.
1334 378 657 165 135 636 1257 431 245 1518 578 356 1099 320 732 1300 259 36 1234 297 686 124 585 879 784 63 1116 559 282 413 89 1180 625 1244