Generating new variables based on relative alphabetical position of other variables

[Robert Pettis]

Hello!

I am looking to generate two new string variables based on the relative alphabetical position of two other variables, wherein the first new variable comes first alphabetically and the second comes second. For an example I would like to turn this:

V1 V2
Apple Orange
Tree Biscuit
Sad Happy
Beef Brain

into this:

V3 V4
Apple Orange
Biscuit Tree
Happy Sad
Beef Brain

in Stata. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Clyde Schechter]

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str5 v1 str7 v2
"Apple" "Orange" 
"Tree"  "Biscuit"
"Sad"   "Happy"  
"Beef"  "Brain"  
end

list

gen v3 = cond(v1 < v2, v1, v2)
gen v4 = cond(v2 <= v1, v1, v2)

list

In the future, when showing data examples, please use the -dataex- command to do so, as I have done in this reply. If you are running version 15.1 or a fully updated version 14.2, it is already part of your official Stata installation. If not, run -ssc install dataex- to get it. Either way, run -help dataex- to read the simple instructions for using it. -dataex- will save you time; it is easier and quicker than typing out tables. It includes complete information about aspects of the data that are often critical to answering your question but cannot be seen from tabular displays or screenshots. It also makes it possible for those who want to help you to create a faithful representation of your example to try out their code, which in turn makes it more likely that their answer will actually work in your data.

[Robert Pettis]

This appears to do the trick. Thank you for the help and for informing me about dataex.