Annoying leading space with %3.0f

[Girish Venkataraman]

Hello all,

I am noticing an annoying leading space before the numbers after I run the code with a di %3.0f and an endash. Which I end up correcting in Word after the putdocx statement I typically have. I don't think it is an MS Word issue. Would love pointers to see if it is a code issue. If I change it to di %3.1f, the spacing issue disappears. There are some variables like number of co-mutations (in my study) for which I cannot have decimals in the reporting.

My code illustration below with the auto dataset.

sysuse auto, clear
local x gear_ratio
local unit "cm"

local endash = ustrunescape("\u2013")


// Code to just do stats around median for one whole group not stratified
*---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
foreach v of local x{
qui tabstat `v', statistic(p25 p50 p75 min max) save
return list
local `v'lqr  : di %3.0f `=r(StatTotal)[1,1]'    
local `v'med  : di %3.0f `=r(StatTotal)[2,1]'
local `v'uqr  : di %3.0f `=r(StatTotal)[3,1]'
local `v'min  : di %3.0f `=r(StatTotal)[4,1]'
local `v'max  : di %3.0f `=r(StatTotal)[5,1]'
local `v'_miqr `"``v'med' `unit' (IQR: ``v'lqr'`endash'``v'uqr' `unit')"'
local `v'_mr `"``v'med' `unit' (range: ``v'min'`endash'``v'max' `unit')"'
}

di "`gear_ratio_miqr'"

What it prints:

3 cm (IQR:   3–  3 cm)

There is an extra space before both the 3's in the IQR.

[Joseph Coveney]

Use a shorter format, that is, change %3.0f to %1.0f.

Compare what you get with

local three : display %3.0f 3
display in smcl as text "IQR: `three'–`three' cm"

to that with

local three : display %1.0f 3
display in smcl as text "IQR: `three'–`three' cm"

[Girish Venkataraman]

Thanks much, Joseph Coveney That did it.
I get the logic of display a little better now, thanks to your solution.