Possible to replace underlying integer values with their value labels?

[Sampada KC]

Hi,

I have two variables that both contain information about ethnicity, but the underlying values in the variables are different for the same value label. For e.g variable hh_ethnicity=1 with value label "Igbo" and variable recipient_ethnicity=2 with the same value label "Igbo". I want to replace hh_ethnicity and recipient_ethnicity with the value label "Igbo" as the underlying value. There's already help on this forum on how to transfer value labels between variables, but it's not what I want--- I need the underlying values to be the same for the same value label between two different variables. Or, I could also do with a code, if it exists, to replace values with their value labels.

Thanks,
Sampada

[William Lisowski]

The decode command will create a new string variable based on your existing numeric variable and its value label. Here's an example, but do see the output of help decode for more details.

sysuse auto, clear
describe foreign
tab foreign
tab foreign, nolabel
decode foreign, generate(sforeign)
describe sforeign
tab sforeign

. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 Automobile Data)

. describe foreign

              storage   display    value
variable name   type    format     label      variable label
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
foreign         byte    %8.0g      origin     Car type

. tab foreign

   Car type |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
   Domestic |         52       70.27       70.27
    Foreign |         22       29.73      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |         74      100.00

. tab foreign, nolabel

   Car type |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
          0 |         52       70.27       70.27
          1 |         22       29.73      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |         74      100.00

. decode foreign, generate(sforeign)

. describe sforeign

              storage   display    value
variable name   type    format     label      variable label
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sforeign        str8    %9s                   Car type

. tab sforeign

   Car type |      Freq.     Percent        Cum.
------------+-----------------------------------
   Domestic |         52       70.27       70.27
    Foreign |         22       29.73      100.00
------------+-----------------------------------
      Total |         74      100.00

[Carole J. Wilson]

Crossed with William

So you want both variables to become string variables? See: help decode

decode hh_ethnicity, gen(hh_ethnicity_str)
decode recipient_ethnicity, gen(recipient_ethnicity_str)
drop hh_ethnicity recipient_ethnicity
rename hh_ethnicity_str hh_ethnicity
rename recipient_ethnicity_str recipient_ethnicity

[Sampada KC]

Ah of course! Thanks both.