loop

[Bridget Kauma]

I need help with generating a series from an existing series that assigns a value of minus one of the series I am using. I have area codes data. I want to recode the area code from 5 to 109. I want 5 to be 4 up to 109 to be 108. Each area code has over 1000 observations.

Here is a sample of the data.

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input long(Date Date_td) byte(Time Day Area)
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
130823 130823 18 1  5
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  6
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 15 2  8
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
140823 140823 18 2 10
end

[Bridget Kauma]

figured it out. thanks

gen area2=.
forvalues i= 8/108 {
display `i'

replace area2=area-1 if area==`i'

}

[Nick Cox]

You don't need a loop for this. Or, equivalently: Stata will do this loop without explicit loop syntax.

gen area2 = area - 1  if inrange(area, 8, 108)

is equivalent to your code in #2 while

gen area2 = area - 1  if inrange(area, 5, 109)

seems implied by the question in #1.

Incidentally, this block of Statalist is set aside for Mata questions: your question falls under General. That is not a problem except that many people interested in Stata but not Mata may rarely if ever read questions here.