Underlying numbers for each percentile

[Bridget Kauma]

Dear Statalist,

I need help with a Stata command that I can use to generate every 2nd percentile from the 5th to the 99th and be able to extract the underlying numbers of observations for each percentile that I have generated for a variable called wages.

Best,

Bridget

[Øyvind Snilsberg]

maybe,

sysuse nlsw88, clear
xtile pct = wage, nq(100)
bysort pct: gen wanted = _N if inrange(pct,5,99) & mod(pct,2)

[Nick Cox]

In principle each percentile bin contains 1% of the data. If your data are sufficiently lumped that you won't get that result, then wanting so many different percentiles is intensely problematic.

[Bridget Kauma]

Øyvind Snilsberg Thank you so much it worked! Truly grateful
.