Beginner: Frequency of variable in dataset

[Ricky Gettys]

I tried a few egen commands to do what I need, but can't figure it out.

I want to create a new variable that returns a total by each unique value in the the "country" column.

EX:

have:

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str5 country float
"USA"  
"USA"  
"USA"  
"China"
"China"
"USA"  
"USA"  
"USA"  
"China"
"China"
end

want:

country	countryfreq
USA	6
USA	6
USA	6
USA	6
China	4
China	4
China	4
China	4
USA	6
China	4

[Nick Cox]

By “unique” I think you mean “dIstinct”.

bysort country : gen freq = _N

is perhaps the simplest Stataish way.

egen freq = total(1), by(country)

would also work.

[Ricky Gettys]

Thanks!