trim string variables

[Sabrina Solanki]

Hi,

I have trailing spaces in several of my string vars. I tried:

strrtrim("schname")

and get the following error message:

command strrtrim is unrecognized.

Is this command no longer available?

[Nick Cox]

See the help for functions or http://www.stata.com/manuals14/fn.pdf p.138

strrtrim() is a function, not a command, and so can be issued only as a part of a command

As applied to the literal string "schname" it would do nothing as there are no trailing blanks.

You may need something more like

replace schname = strrtrim(schname)

[Sabrina Solanki]

Thanks!

[Katrine Marie Jensen]

Hi all,

I'm struggeling to use the -ltrim- function correctly.

I have leading spaces for all countries in my country variable, hence I tried using

replace country= ltrim("")

However, this just made all the country observations disappear. I'm looking for a solution where I can apply the -ltrim- function for all country observations at the same time, as I have paneldata for 195 countries in 117 years.

Thank you in advance for your help!

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int year str25 country float rainfallmm
1901 " Afghanistan"              20.910303
1901 " Albania"                  103.67812
1901 " Algeria"                   9.454398
1901 " American Samoa"            215.5257
1901 " Andorra"                   72.60929
1901 " Angola"                    77.58418
1901 " Antigua & Barbuda"     253.1407
1901 " Argentina"                 34.57885
1901 " Armenia"                   48.49679
1901 " Aruba"                      65.3903
1901 " Australia"                  34.7993
1901 " Austria"                   95.29636
1901 " Azerbaijan"                35.68129
1901 " Bahrain"                   3.678049
1901 " Bangladesh"               202.73495
1901 " Barbados"                 170.03625
1901 " Belarus"                   50.02998
1901 " Belgium"                   56.99522
1901 " Belize"                    155.5927
1901 " Benin"                    106.23543
1901 " Bermuda"                  145.39166
1901 " Bhutan"                   150.91719
1901 " Bolivia"                   83.77482
1901 " Bosnia & Herzegovina"  95.28339
1901 " Botswana"                  38.90192
1901 " Brazil"                   145.47807
1901 " British Virgin Is."       251.01346
1901 " Brunei"                   263.47974
1901 " Bulgaria"                  60.55573
1901 " Burkina Faso"             70.304115
1901 " Burundi"                   59.11721
1901 " Cambodia"                 153.46115
1901 " Cameroon"                 138.90353
1901 " Canada"                    36.75501
1901 " Cape Verde"               13.387116
1901 " Cayman Is."                  148.55
1901 " Central African Republic" 113.15446
1901 " Chad"                      27.86726
1901 " Chile"                     60.08192
1901 " China"                     42.71596
1901 " Cocos Is."                173.41667
1901 " Colombia"                 230.41254
1901 " Comoros"                  133.40213
1901 " Congo"                    129.84007
1901 " Cook Is."                 178.59627
1901 " Costa Rica"                292.5924
1901 " Cote d'Ivoire"            115.32276
1901 " Croatia"                   93.82109
1901 " Cuba"                     148.61938
1901 " Cyprus"                   22.324896
1901 " Czech Republic"            54.21322
1901 " Denmark"                   52.24304
1901 " Djibouti"                  38.89595
1901 " Dominica"                 250.29575
1901 " Dominican Republic"       145.68788
1901 " Ecuador"                  224.39095
1901 " Egypt"                    4.0063434
1901 " El Salvador"              150.94292
1901 " Equatorial Guinea"         192.1228
1901 " Eritrea"                  17.697659
1901 " Estonia"                  37.476612
1901 " Ethiopia"                  70.71775
1901 " Faroe Is."                127.29942
1901 " Fiji"                     239.81703
1901 " Finland"                   31.64179
1901 " France"                    67.05617
1901 " French Polynesia"         175.05746
1901 " Gabon"                    143.07632
1901 " Georgia"                   82.04367
1901 " Germany"                   55.73378
1901 " Ghana"                     103.4563
1901 " Gibraltar"                 75.31437
1901 " Greece"                    63.62523
1901 " Greenland"                 45.90203
1901 " Grenada"                  127.87691
1901 " Guam"                      640.9429
1901 " Guatemala"                213.67705
1901 " Guinea"                   156.88628
1901 " Guinea-Bissau"            163.56067
1901 " Guyana"                   180.83296
1901 " Haiti"                    133.56944
1901 " Honduras"                  162.6607
1901 " Hungary"                   50.82848
1901 " Iceland"                   76.34325
1901 " India"                     78.03558
1901 " Indonesia"                234.19624
1901 " Iran"                     15.219575
1901 " Iraq"                     14.566815
1901 " Ireland"                   87.40076
1901 " Israel"                   17.971825
1901 " Italy"                     93.88945
1901 " Jamaica"                   217.2105
1901 " Japan"                     137.2933
1901 " Jordan"                    8.030041
1901 " Kazakhstan"               22.792145
1901 " Kenya"                     53.95895
1901 " Kiribati"                  96.95818
1901 " Kuwait"                    5.186317
1901 " Kyrgyzstan"                40.02524
1901 " Laos"                     142.41025
end

[Jorrit Gosens]

Compare the results of:

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input int year str25 country float rainfallmm
1901 " Afghanistan"              20.910303
1901 " Albania"                  103.67812
1901 " Algeria"                   9.454398
end
gen country2= ltrim("")
gen country3= ltrim(" something")
gen country4= ltrim(country)

[Katrine Marie Jensen]

Thank you Jorrit,

 
 gen country4= ltrim(country)

Works perfectly!

Best,
Katrine