How to fix the destring error "contains nonnumeric characters; no replace"

[Chul-Kyoo Jung]

Hi I want to destring variable v7, but stata returns the error "contains nonnumeric characters; no replace"

Referring to thread https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...ers-no-replace, I tried

generate byte non_numeric = missing(string(v7))

but it also generates "type mismatch". What am I supposed to do to fix this issue?

* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input byte v1 int v2 byte v3 str1 v4 byte v5 float v6 str1 v7 double(v8 v9) float v10
11 10 11 "D" 19    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 12 "D" 15    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 12 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 12 "D" 22    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 13 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 13 "D" 18    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 13 "D" 22 5706 "1"    0     0  34
11 10 13 "D" 22 6010 "1"    0     0  40
11 10 13 "D" 22 6205 "1"  165   450   0
11 10 13 "D" 22 6606 "1"    0     0   0
11 10 13 "D" 22 6906 "1"    0     0  60
11 10 13 "D" 22 7105 "1"    0     0 201
11 10 13 "D" 22 7209 "1"    0     0  33
11 10 13 "D" 22 7304 "1"    0     0  90
11 10 13 "D" 22 7305 "1"    0     0  58
11 10 13 "D" 22 7601 "3"    0     0  26
11 10 13 "D" 22 8101 "1"    0     0 190
11 10 13 "D" 22 8601 "3"    0     0  22
11 10 13 "D" 22 8607 "3"    0     0 115
11 10 13 "D" 22 8808 "3"    0     0  20
11 10 13 "D" 22 8903 "1"    0     0  40
11 10 13 "D" 22 9103 "3"    0     0  60
11 10 13 "D" 22 9105 "1"    0     0  50
11 10 13 "D" 22 9106 "1"  224   385   0
11 10 13 "D" 36    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 14 "D" 22 6302 "3"  130   180   0
11 10 14 "D" 22 7804 "3"  112   108   0
11 10 14 "D" 22 7910 "3"  260   850   0
11 10 14 "D" 22 8712 "3"    0     0  34
11 10 14 "D" 22 8906 "3"   67   120   0
11 10 14 "D" 22 8909 "3"    0     0  53
11 10 14 "D" 22 9104 "1"    0     0  34
11 10 14 "D" 32    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 14 "D" 33    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 14 "D" 36    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 15 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 15 "D" 21    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 15 "D" 22    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 15 "D" 22    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 18    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 18    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 21    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 22    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 24    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 16 "D" 30    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 17 "D" 22 6807 "3"  230   165   0
11 10 17 "D" 22 8003 "3"    0     0 165
11 10 17 "D" 22 8211 "3"    0     0 250
11 10 17 "D" 22 8802 "3"    0     0 300
11 10 18 "D" 19    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 22 5211 "3"  194  1021   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 6503 "3"  109   165   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 7202 "3"    0     0 167
11 10 18 "D" 22 7204 "3"   99    49   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 7507 "1"  600  1577   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 7508 "3"  660   825   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 7708 "3"    0     0  40
11 10 18 "D" 22 7709 "3"  165   198  20
11 10 18 "D" 22 7809 "3"  231   132   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 7902 "3"  165    99  40
11 10 18 "D" 22 8005 "3"    0     0  33
11 10 18 "D" 22 8007 "3"   95    54   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 8403 "3"    0     0  30
11 10 18 "D" 22 8504 "3"    0     0   0
11 10 18 "D" 22 9108 "3"    0     0 142
11 10 18 "D" 22 9212 "3"    0     0 165
11 10 18 "D" 24    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 25    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 28    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 29    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 32    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 18 "D" 36    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 19 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 19 "D" 22  808 "2"  673   528   0
11 10 19 "D" 22 5305 "2"  650   795   0
11 10 19 "D" 22 5611 "3"  330   396   0
11 10 19 "D" 22 6404 "3"    0     0  56
11 10 19 "D" 22 7107 "3"  277   490   0
11 10 19 "D" 22 8104 "1"    0     0  34
11 10 19 "D" 22 8306 "3"    0     0  49
11 10 19 "D" 22 8608 "3"   66   115   0
11 10 19 "D" 22 8809 "3"    0     0  72
11 10 19 "D" 22 8902 "1"    0     0 204
11 10 19 "D" 28    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 19 "D" 28    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 19 "D" 29    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 20 "D" 22    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 21 "D" 15    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 21 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 21 "D" 17    . "*"    .     .   .
11 10 21 "D" 18 6901 "3"    0     0  59
11 10 21 "D" 18 8404 "3"    0     0  27
11 10 21 "D" 18 9004 "1"    0     0  67
11 10 21 "D" 22 2606 "2" 1778 10061 593
11 10 21 "D" 22 4512 "1"  351  1151   0
11 10 21 "D" 22 5011 "3"  391   264   0
11 10 21 "D" 22 5309 "3"  100   170   0
11 10 21 "D" 22 5406 "1" 9273 32135   0
11 10 21 "D" 22 5409 "2" 1321  4859   0
end

[Nick Cox]

The problems start with asterisk * characters but you can see that with

tab v7 if missing(real(v7))

[Chul-Kyoo Jung]

Nick Cox Thanks Nick, then should I change asterisk to "." and then do the same?

[Nick Cox]

The asterisks are the only obvious problem in the example data. The command in #2 should tell you what to ignore in your destring call.

[Chul-Kyoo Jung]

Nick Cox Thanks so much!