Problems with inlist function

[jill urbaeva]

I've been trying to use these three codes to create a depression score. One of the members helped me with these codes. My Stata shows "command inlist is unrecognizable". I don't know how to fix this problem. Is there a particular order for entering these codes? Please help.

inlist(D1, 2, 3) & inlist(D2, 2, 3)
egen third = anycount(D3-D8), values(2 3)
gen major = inlist(D1, 2, 3) & inlist(D2, 2, 3) & third >= 5

[Rich Goldstein]

the first statement is covered by the third; further, the first statement was obviously educational and is not meant to be used; do not use the first statement above as it is both illegal and unnecessary

[Weiwen Ng]

Hopefully this will state things more clearly. -inlist- is not a standalone command. It's a function. You were supposed to enter it as part of a command, like -gen- (which is short for generate).

You'll see the third line you typed, i.e.

gen major = inlist(D1, 2, 3) & inlist(D2, 2, 3) & third >= 5

contains the first line that you tried to type. The first argument for -inlist- (e.g. D1) checks that variable (e.g. the variable D1). If D1's value was any of the values that followed (e.g. here, you specified 2 and 3), -inlist- will return a true. So, the code above evaluates a total of 3 variables, and if all 3 are true, it will return a 1 overall.

If you ran all 3 lines of code as a block, you would exit with an error because the first line is faulty (hence, the next 2 lines are never evaluated). You were supposed to run just the second and third lines of code, i.e.

egen third = anycount(D3-D8), values(2 3) 
gen major = inlist(D1, 2, 3) & inlist(D2, 2, 3) & third >= 5

[Nick Cox]

This question arises from, and was already answered in, https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...pression-score

Whether a question deserves a new thread is a fine judgment. When a question is closely related to an existing thread, it's a good idea to provide a cross-reference, as just above. Any way, Weiwen Ng nicely expanded on the original idea.

[jill urbaeva]

Nick Cox , I was not sure whether to continue the existing thread or create a new one because I was asked to create a new thread for asking a new question in my previous post. And I was not sure if you would have wanted me to tag you in my new thread. I really appreciate your kind responses.

[jill urbaeva]

Weiwen Ng, thank you so much for your detailed response.