Label variables from a list of names

[Rodrigo Badilla]

Hi all,

I am trying to label variables from a local list of names. Lamentably to me, I only could label all the variables with the last name of the list, example:

clear all
set more off
sysuse auto

foreach v of varlist * {
   label var `v' ""
}

local names uno dos tres cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez once doce

forvalues i=1(1)12 {
foreach var of varlist * {
    local name : word `i' of `names'
    label variable `var' "`name'"
}
}

describe


Contains data from C:\Program Files (x86)\Stata13\ado\base/a/auto.dta
  obs:            74                          1978 Automobile Data
 vars:            12                          13 Apr 2013 17:45
 size:         3,182                          (_dta has notes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              storage   display    value
variable name   type    format     label      variable label
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
make            str18   %-18s                 doce
price           int     %8.0gc                doce
mpg             int     %8.0g                 doce
rep78           int     %8.0g                 doce
headroom        float   %6.1f                 doce
trunk           int     %8.0g                 doce
weight          int     %8.0gc                doce
length          int     %8.0g                 doce
turn            int     %8.0g                 doce
displacement    int     %8.0g                 doce
gear_ratio      float   %6.2f                 doce
foreign         byte    %8.0g      origin     doce
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorted by:  foreign

Thanks in advance
Rodrigo

[Ali Atia]

clear all
set more off
sysuse auto

local names uno dos tres cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez once doce
foreach var of varlist _all {
    local list `list' `var'
}
forvalues i=1(1)12 {
        local name : word `i' of `names'
        local varname : word `i' of `list'
        label variable `varname' `name'
}

. describe

Contains data from C:\Program Files\Stata16\ado\base/a/auto.dta
  obs:            74                          1978 Automobile Data
 vars:            12                          13 Apr 2018 17:45
                                              (_dta has notes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              storage   display    value
variable name   type    format     label      variable label
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
make            str18   %-18s                 uno
price           int     %8.0gc                dos
mpg             int     %8.0g                 tres
rep78           int     %8.0g                 cuatro
headroom        float   %6.1f                 cinco
trunk           int     %8.0g                 seis
weight          int     %8.0gc                siete
length          int     %8.0g                 ocho
turn            int     %8.0g                 nueve
displacement    int     %8.0g                 diez
gear_ratio      float   %6.2f                 once
foreign         byte    %8.0g      origin     doce
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorted by: foreign
     Note: Dataset has changed since last saved.

[Rodrigo Badilla]

Ali Atia Exist some posibility to make the same but with 2 words in labels,

I tried with tokenize but failed

tokenize `""etiqueta uno" "etiqueta dos" "etiqueta tres" "etiqueta cuatro" "etiqueta cinco" "etiqueta seis" "etiqueta siete" "etiqueta ocho" "etiqueta nueve" "etiqueta diez" "etiqueta once" "etiqueta doce""'

foreach var of varlist _all {
    local list `list' `var'
}
forvalues i=1(1)12 {
        local name : "``i''"
        local varname : word  `i' of `list'
        label variable `varname' "`name'"
}

[Rodrigo Badilla]

I have success with a little change of my second request:

 tokenize `""etiqueta uno" "etiqueta dos" "etiqueta tres" "etiqueta cuatro" "etiqueta cinco" "etiqueta seis" "etiqueta siete" "etiqueta ocho" "etiqueta nueve" "etiqueta diez" "etiqueta once" "etiqueta doce""'

foreach var of varlist _all {    

    local list `list' `var'

}

forvalues i=1(1)12 {

    local name   "``i''"
    local varname : word `i' of `list'
    label variable `varname' "`name'"

}

describe

Contains data from C:\Program Files (x86)\Stata13\ado\base/a/auto.dta
  obs:            74                          1978 Automobile Data
 vars:            12                          13 Apr 2013 17:45
 size:         3,182                          (_dta has notes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              storage   display    value
variable name   type    format     label      variable label
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
make            str18   %-18s                 etiqueta uno
price           int     %8.0gc                etiqueta dos
mpg             int     %8.0g                 etiqueta tres
rep78           int     %8.0g                 etiqueta cuatro
headroom        float   %6.1f                 etiqueta cinco
trunk           int     %8.0g                 etiqueta seis
weight          int     %8.0gc                etiqueta siete
length          int     %8.0g                 etiqueta ocho
turn            int     %8.0g                 etiqueta nueve
displacement    int     %8.0g                 etiqueta diez
gear_ratio      float   %6.2f                 etiqueta once
foreign         byte    %8.0g      origin     etiqueta doce
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorted by:  foreign



          
}

[Nick Cox]

This can be trimmed down to one loop.

sysuse auto, clear 

tokenize uno dos tres cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez once doce 

local i = 1 
foreach var of varlist _all {    
    label variable `var' "etiqueta ``i''"
    local ++i 
}

[Rodrigo Badilla]

Thanks Ali Atia and Nick Cox for you reply. Good trick in the last reply (local ++1).

Regards

[daniel klein]

Always good to know how to do this with basic commands. It is a bit more convenient with elabel (SSC)

elabel variable (_all) ///
    ("etiqueta uno"    ///
     "etiqueta dos"    ///
     "etiqueta tres"   ///
     "etiqueta cuatro" ///
     "etiqueta cinco"  ///
     "etiqueta seis"   ///
     "etiqueta siete"  ///
     "etiqueta ocho"   ///
     "etiqueta nueve"  ///
     "etiqueta diez"   ///
     "etiqueta once"   ///
     "etiqueta doce")

Or, in two steps:

elabel variable (_all) ///
    (uno dos tres cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nuve diez once doce)

elabel variable (_all) (= "etiqueta " + @)