Strings loosing precision in STATA

[Abbas Raza]

Hi all,

I am working with large data set with more than 6000 obs. Currently, I am having difficulty in sorting out why string variable is loosing precision - the variable of my interest is string (v2) because it includes entries mixed with special characters and numbers.

Issue 1: when i import "X_ar" file, variable v2 loose precision - I want to import "v2" variable as it is in in excel file X_ar
Issue 2: when i export imported data set into excel, again it gives me output of variable v2 without precision - I want v2 variable (exported in excel file "X") same as it is in file X_ar. I also think if we are able to solve out issue 1, most probably issue 2 will be resolved automatically

Please the excel and dofile attached.

Note: I am using STATA 12

[Cyrus Levy]

I am not sure what you mean by precision but when I follow your commands I get the outcome below. The contents are exactly the same. What changes is how the observations are aligned. In excel you can left-align or right-align observation (or center them). There are ways to do that in Stata too, but importing from Excel doesn't transfer the observation alignment information to Stata. You can use spaces instead of alignment in Excel to recreate the same look in Stata through importing.

[Abbas Raza]

Thanks Cyrus.


I have attached the print screen of how data looks like in my STATA data editor.


I also tried the command (mentioned below) to increase the size of string but it is not working. So may be the issue is I am not able to increase the size of string variable that is v2. Could you please check why I am not able to to increase the size of string variable? or guide me further if I am missing something?

I change the size of string from 23 to 29 charecs.
format v2 %29s

Alignment is definitely not a concern.

Thanks,
Abbas

[Cyrus Levy]

Mine looks different. Yours look more like it is imported as numerical variable in scientific form, and then converted to strings. You can try this with your file:

import excel X_ar.xls, sheet("GVI") firstrow allstring clear
export excel using test.xls, firstrow(variables) replace

[Abbas Raza]

Thanks Cyrus for generous help. However, it's not working. Still having same issue. Can i assume there is bug in my STATA?

FYI: you mistakenly typed comma after X_ar.xls in your code :-)

[Rich Goldstein]

this looks to me like a simple problem with your display format; see "h format"

please read the FAQ so you can see why you should not be uploading excel (or any other binary) data files

[Cyrus Levy]

You are right about the comma, there shouldn't be a comma before the clear option, the one right after the file name is fine.

Can you go to:

File -> Import -> Excel Spreadsheet -> Browse yourfile

and then take a picture and post it here? Something like this:

[Nick Cox]

Abbas Raza:

Please do study the FAQ Advice all posters are asked to read before posting, especially http://www.statalist.org/forums/help#stata and incidentally http://www.statalist.org/forums/help#spelling

Your .do file for example would have been better and more simply presented as CODE

foreach i in GVI {
clear
import excel using "X_ar.xls", sheet("`i'") firstrow allstring

saveold "`i'.dta", replace
}

export excel using "X.xls", firstrow(variable) replace nolabel

That would save people clicking on an extension, opening it on their machine and then comparing it with your problem.

Note that

format v2 %29s

just changes the display format and doesn't do anything you change the storage type of the variable.

I agree with Cyrus: at some point your variable was temporarily changed to numeric and then back again.

[Abbas Raza]

Hi Cyrus,

Please find the picture attached - still facing the same problem. However, if I copy paste my data in editor it solve the problem completely. Could you explain any possible reason of this?

Thanks,
Abbas

[Abbas Raza]

Help from any other STATA experts on this matter is also appreciated.

Thanks,
Abbas

[Nick Cox]

Stata is giving you a view of how it will treat the data. In Column B = variable v2, you have non-numeric characters such as "o" and "-" and in some cases there is more than one value. You do not want such data imported as numeric. So, select "Import all data as strings" (as advised by Cyrus in #4) and then destring inside Stata.

If your data are messed up, that is a separate issue which import cannot resolve. But none of us can advise on that. We don't know what is in column B and what would be good or bad data.

Please note the spelling Stata as already underlined to you in #8.