Generate new variable with multiple values

[Michael Walters]

Hello all. I'm having issues on generating a new variable with multiple values. I'm using Stata 15.1 for Windows.

I have a variable, state, which has observations for eight US states. Initially they were string variables, so I converted them to new variables. It gave each state a value from 1 to 8.

I would like to generate a variable, charteryear, equal to a year when the state is 3 (Florida, for example). I ran it and it stopped after the first line.

I'd like charteryear to have a value for all 8 states. Below is what I ran:

g charteryear = 18 if state == 1
g charteryear = 14 if state == 2
g charteryear = 20 if state == 3
g charteryear = 18 if state == 4
g charteryear = 18 if state == 5
g charteryear = 13 if state == 6
g charteryear = 17 if state == 7
g charteryear = 21 if state == 8

Also, can I run this with my state as a string variable? It is easier to remember 3 = Florida for example.

Thank you.

[Carole J. Wilson]

Please take a moment to read the FAQ, especially section 12 https://www.statalist.org/forums/help. "it stopped" is not helpful.

The command generate creates a new variable. Since it already exists after your first generate command, you cannot create it again. Instead, you want to use replace. See help replace.

You can refer to a string variable in your if statement. But if your variable state is numeric, you cannot directly refer to its label. If you have another variable original_state_var that is a string, then you would do the following:

replace charteryear=20 if original_state_var=="Florida"

Be warned that Stata matches on strings require exact matches on capitalization and spaces: "Florida " != "Florida" != "florida"

[Michael Walters]

Thank you Carole, that worked.