Nonnumeric characters: "," and "%"

[Eric_B]

The data on one of my variables is in percentage format with commas instead of dots. It seems like I need to get rid of them both. I try to destring, replacing with dots and converting to fractions but it doesn't work. Seems like they block each other; the "%" is stopping the "dpcomma" command and the "," is stopping the "percent" command.

How can I solve this?

[Nick Cox]

I can't reproduce this problem. The options (not commands) dpcomma and percent of the destring command are compatible.

 
. set obs 1
obs was 0, now 1

. gen test = "100,0%"

. destring test, replace dpcomma percent
test: characters % removed; replaced as byte

. l

     +------+
     | test |
     |------|
  1. |    1 |
     +------+

[Eric_B]

It worked. Thanks Nick. For some reason I separated the two options in my earlier try.

[Nick Cox]

This was also posted at http://www.talkstats.com/showthread....-and-quot-quot

Please review the FAQ Advice to learn about our policy on cross-posting (and also our preference for full real names).