Is there a way to create a matrix with different types (number and string) of elements?

[Victor Smith]

I am trying to create a matrix in Stata with multiple elements. For example, one column with string variables, one column with numbers, like the one below:

             column1      column2  
row 1        x is             4         
row 2        y is             5
row 3        z is             6

So I tried the following command:

matrix a = ("x is", 4\"y is", 5\"z is", 6)

But I got the error message

type mismatch
r(109);

I checked the help file of -matrix-, it seems that all the elements in a matrix should be number. Does anyone know how to define a matrix with different types of elements?

[Nick Cox]

Stata matrices are numeric, period. Mata allows string matrices. If you want to mix strings and numbers, you can use tables and/or data. tabdisp is often overlooked here.

[Victor Smith]

thanks Nick