work with two datasets

[Lothar Wintter]

hello everyone,

i have two datasets. lets call them A and B

The first one (A) includes many variables, the one of interest here is the birth year.

individual	...	birth year
1	...	1960
2	...	1996
3	...	1982
...	...	...
1000	..	1968

the second dataset (B) is just a list of years with coresponding values.

year	value
1950	12
1951	11
...	...
1999	14

Is there any way to create a new variable in dataset A, which takes the value from B, if the variable birthyear from A matches the variable year from B ?

I could not find any topic with a similar problem, and already looked into the help section for merge and egen. Also tried to work with different frames. nothing worked.


Thanks.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Yes, -merge- and -frlink- both apply here. Since you mention you can use frames, I would recommend -frlnk-.

Something like this (pseudocode based on your example, typos are my own). Spend some time reading the -frames- manual if -frlink- seems foreign to you.

frame change A
frlink m:1 birth_year , frame(B year) gen(lyear)
frget value, from(lyear)

[Lothar Wintter]

Thank you very much! thats what i tried to do for two days