Recoding Existing Variables

[Katelin Phelps]

Hi,
I have a large data set and I am trying to recode one of my indicator variables which currently uses "Y" and I want to change all the "Y"s to equal 1
The variable currently looks like this:

residential
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y

I have tried using the recode command

recode residential ("Y" = 1)

but I receive this error:

unknown el Y in rule
r(198);

end of do-file

Is there a way to do this?

[Ken Chui]

If you'd like the new variable to be actually a numerical variable, then it'd be easier to to generate a new one:

gen residential2 = .
replace residential2 = 1 if residential == "Y"

You can also use the same replace command to convert the rest to 0, etc.

[Katelin Phelps]

Thank you Ken! That worked.

[Nick Cox]

See also the help for encode