How to consolidate string variables

[Georgia Miller]

I have variables from 2 arms of the same study (ex: gestage and gestage_v2). For select all that or apply or multiple choice questions I used the following. For numerical or text variables I am not sure how to consolidate since there aren't specific values associated. Any suggestions?

[Georgia Miller]

solved!

[Nick Cox]

I don't know what your solution was, but on this information mine would be

gen insurancetype = max(pt_insurancetype, pt_insurancetype_v2)