Command that returns value if a variable contains a string anywhere inside of it

[Carl Isaac]

Suppose I have data that looks like the following:

clear
set obs 5
gen x = ""
replace x = "COST YTD" in 3

I would like to save a local macro that is equal to 1 if the variable x contains the string "COST" in any row, and 0 if it does not contain it anywhere. To do this, I could do the following:

gen x_cost = strpos(x, "COST")
egen x_cost_max = max(x_cost)
if x_cost_max != 0 {
     local cost_str_exists = 1 
}
else {
     local cost_str_exists = 0
}

Does anyone know of a command that does this more efficiently? Thanks!

[Mike Lacy]

One possibility:

assert (strpos(x, "COST") == 0)
local cost_str_exists = (_rc == 9)

[Nick Cox]

Another way to do it:

count if strpos(x, "COST") 
local cost_str_exists = r(N) > 0

[Mike Lacy]

Nick's approach is much preferable. -assert- is an obscure (though workable) choice that popped into my head for no good reason.