how to find out variable order number

[tim bradshaw]

Hi there
Is there a quick way of determining the order number of a variable? For example, if "gender" is the 58th variable in the variable order, is this stated somewhere?
Thanks

[Andrew Musau]

A variable name is one word. So use the -word()- function.

sysuse auto, clear
qui ds
di word("`r(varlist)'", 11)

Res.:

. di word("`r(varlist)'", 11)
gear_ratio

.

[William Lisowski]

This demonstrates the reverse of Andrew's solution - giving the position of a particular variable name.

. sysuse auto, clear
(1978 automobile data)

. qui ds

. local vars `r(varlist)'

. local num : list posof "gear_ratio" in vars

. display `num'
11

.

[tim bradshaw]

Many thanks, both!