Generate a new variable

[Insa Linnea]

Dear all,

I hope you can help me.

I would like to generate a new variables based on values of another variable. The variable I would like to use has 18 values and I would like to trichotomize it into 3 categories with the values 0, 1, 3.

I tried to use:

gen newvardemo if country_code= 1=1 and if country_code= 2=0

but it appears this is not valid syntax.

Can you help me?

[Nick Cox]

That is indeed illegal syntax. Among several other details, testing for equality always requires ==.

gen newvardemo = cond(country_code == 1, 1, cond(country_code == 2, 0, 3))

maps 1 to 1, 2 to 0 and everything else to 3. You might find it easier to do it in steps:

gen newvardemo = 3
replace newvardemo = 1 if country_code == 0
replace newvardemo = 0 if country_code == 2

I am guessing here because I can't see that you give your rule for new values of 3.