Collapsing observations in different rows

[Alejandro Farieta]

Hi everybody

I have some data this way:

SP_E_CONSECUTIVO	SP_Y_ESP_ENSEÑAR	SP_Y_ESP_EVALUAR	SP_Y_ESP_FORMAR
EK201630003018	168
EK201630003018		150
EK201630003018			202
EK201630003986	183
EK201630003986		192
EK201630003986			182
EK201630004999	173
EK201630004999		177
EK201630004999			190
EK201630003798	141
EK201630003798		150
EK201630003798			135
EK201630003823	212
EK201630003823		181
EK201630003823			188
EK201630003906	213
EK201630003906		194
EK201630003906			200

But I want to collapse the repeated observations in one row only, like this:

SP_E_CONSECUTIVO	SP_Y_ESP_ENSEÑAR	SP_Y_ESP_EVALUAR	SP_Y_ESP_FORMAR
EK201630003018	168	150	202
EK201630003986	183	192	182
EK201630004999	173	177	190
EK201630003798	141	150	135
EK201630003823	212	181	188
EK201630003906	213	194	200

I couldn't find a quick method for doing this. Can somebody give me some advice? I'll appreciate it a lot.

[Clyde Schechter]

It is, in fact, precisely the -collapse- command that you need:

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input str15 sp_e_consecutivo int(SP_Y_ESP_ENSEÑAR sp_y_esp_evaluar sp_y_esp_formar)
"EK201630003018 " 168   .   .
"EK201630003018 "   . 150   .
"EK201630003018 "   .   . 202
"EK201630003986 " 183   .   .
"EK201630003986 "   . 192   .
"EK201630003986 "   .   . 182
"EK201630004999 " 173   .   .
"EK201630004999 "   . 177   .
"EK201630004999 "   .   . 190
"EK201630003798 " 141   .   .
"EK201630003798 "   . 150   .
"EK201630003798 "   .   . 135
"EK201630003823 " 212   .   .
"EK201630003823 "   . 181   .
"EK201630003823 "   .   . 188
"EK201630003906 " 213   .   .
"EK201630003906 "   . 194   .
"EK201630003906 "   .   . 200
end


collapse (firstnm) SP_Y_ESP_ENSEÑAR sp_y_esp_evaluar sp_y_esp_formar, by(sp_e_consecutivo)

In the future, when showing data examples, please use the -dataex- command to do so, as I have here. If you are running version 17, 16 or a fully updated version 15.1 or 14.2, -dataex- is already part of your official Stata installation. If not, run -ssc install dataex- to get it. Either way, run -help dataex- to read the simple instructions for using it. -dataex- will save you time; it is easier and quicker than typing out tables. It includes complete information about aspects of the data that are often critical to answering your question but cannot be seen from tabular displays or screenshots. It also makes it possible for those who want to help you to create a faithful representation of your example to try out their code, which in turn makes it more likely that their answer will actually work in your dat