Require created variable to match variable format

[Mike Murphy]

Recently I've had a recurring problem when manipulating ID variables in a dataset. The problem occurs when I generate a clone of a variable, the new variable does not retain the formatting of the original. For example:

sysuse auto
gen id = string(price) + string(length) + string(weight)
destring id, replace
gen newvar = id
assert id == newvar

Here assert returns an error, presumably because id is stored as %10.0g (double) while newvar is %9.0g (float).

Is there a way that I can require newvar to conform to the formatting of id, without hard-coding the format?

(Running STATA 14 64-bit on Win 7)

Thanks,

Mike

[Nick Cox]

 
help clonevar

[Mike Murphy]

Asked & answered. Thanks!