change place of decimal point

[Nick Bornschein]

Hi,

I have a variable with simple numbers, e.g. 234567 and I want to convert the variable into 0.234567 , adding a 0. decimal at the beginning of each of the number.
Any idea?

Thanks
-Nick

[Jeph Herrin]

assuming that your original variable is numeric:

gen newvar = real("0."+string(oldvar))

should do.

hth,
Jeph

[Nick Cox]

This is a matter of dividing by 1 million (in your example). Alternatively, a string variable that is "0." + string(myvar) may be closer to what you need, depending on what you want to do, or to display.

Watch out for precision problems, however, in displaying fractions. They may not bite, but you have been warned. search precision for resources if this is cryptic.

 
. di 234567/1e6
.234567

. di %07.6f 234567/1e6
0.234567

. set obs 1
obs was 0, now 1

. gen float_y = 234567/1e6

. gen double double_y = 234567/1e6

. l

     +--------------------+
     | float_y   double_y |
     |--------------------|
  1. | .234567    .234567 |
     +--------------------+

[Nick Bornschein]

Thank you both, that worked.

[Nick Bornschein]

I have to re-open my question: I found out that the solutions do not work for every data I have. My example:

**
clear
input values
14.62068
27.5808
17.00424
7.45032
end
**

I need to switch the comma 2 spaces to the left for every value, so in the end I need to have:

**
clear
input values
.1462068
.275808
.1700424
.0745032
end
**

The reason why I need another solution is that the last value needs to be .07 and not .7 like the solutions written here do.

[Nick Cox]

Create a new variable that is your variable divided by 100?

Otherwise put, and with the major exception of dates, formatting just presents the same number slightly differently. If you want to change measurement scale, or the units you are using, that needs a calculation.