Generate new variable with first non-missing value of other variables

[jonathan.j.beard]

I have several variables, and they are either missing, or a 1 .

I would like to keep the first non-missing value of the several variables, or return a missing value if all the variables are missing.

I cannot wrap my head around how to do this.

I have searched for a function similar to COALESCE , but have been unsuccessful.

I know that the code below is syntactically incorrect, but I wanted to give a flavor of what I'm trying to accomplish.

clear
input a b c
1 . .
. . .
. . 1
1 . .
. 1 .
. . .
. . .
1 . .
. . 1
end




*****  this code works, but feels like a kludge...


egen byte flag_1 = rowmiss(a b c)
recode     flag_1      (1/2 = 1 "G") ///
                       (3 = 0 "N") , gen(flag_calc) test



*****  version 1 : code is incorrect
egen         flag_1 = 1 if rowmiss(a b c) < 3
replace     flag_1 = . if rowmiss(a b c) == 3


*****  version 2 : code is incorrect  
generate     flag_1 = .
replace     flag_1 = a if a!= .
replace        flag_1 = b if a == . & if b != .
replace     flag_1 = c if a == . & if b == . & if  c != .


*****  version 3 : code is incorrect
generate     flag_1 = .
replace     flag_1 = 1 if rowmiss(a b c) < 3

[Svend Juul]

egen firstnm = rowfirst(a-c)

[jonathan.j.beard]

Knew there had to be something within STATA's internals... thanks so much!