Converting to string with values equal to previous numeric labels

[Reese Crispen]

For all the variables in a dataset that have value labels, I would like to make those variables strings with the new values equal to the old value labels.

As an example for one variable (though I would like to do for entire dataset at once), I have:

clear
input byte gender 
1 
2 
end

label define gender 1 "male" 2 "female"
label values gender gender

and I want:

clear
input str6 gender 
"male"
"female"  
end

How can I make this transformation?

I was hoping the tostring option usedisplayformat would do this but it appears to just bypass all numeric variables with value labels.


Thanks so much,
Reese (Stata 14.0)

[Ali Atia]

-decode- is more appropriate here:

clear
input byte gender 
1 
2 
end

label define gender 1 "male" 2 "female"
label values gender gender
decode gender,gen(gender2)
list,noobs nolab

  +------------------+
  | gender   gender2 |
  |------------------|
  |      1      male |
  |      2    female |
  +------------------+

[Reese Crispen]

Thanks Ali! That's great