â as missing

[Stephanie Leigh]

The imported data replaces the missing value symbol from the original data with an "â". My goal is to have 1 county variable. Right now I have 3 (county2016, county2017, and county2018) Each one has several missing (with the â) from each variable, that is NOT missing in the other years, so if I could merge them very few if any would be missing county names. I have tried several things, but stata doesn't seem to be recognizing "â" as even existing. I have searched this forum and found some close ideas, but nothing has worked. Thank you!

[Joro Kolev]

Show a sample of your data using -dataex-.

Also be specific which problem are you trying to solve, the incorrect import, or dealing with its consequences.