unable to replace string variable with string variable, r(109)

[Michelle Cho]

hello all,

I'm trying to replace a string variable with a string variable so that ultimately i can just convert it all to a numeric variable and do some data analysis, but i'm stuck on the first step.

. describe dm_int

Variable Storage Display Value
name type format label Variable label
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dm_int str5 %9s


. replace dm_int = "4" if dm_int ="<4.0"
type mismatch
r(109);

I'm very confused as to why this type mismatch is showing up.

Any advice?

[Hemanshu Kumar]

Yes, that's not a helpful error message. The problem is that you need to have two equal signs when you're trying to evaluate a condition:

replace dm_int = "4" if dm_int == "<4.0"

[Michelle Cho]

great thanks so much!