Stata: Generate Variable with foreach

Question

I want to aggregate my variables A1,.., A5 by creating a new variable A that is equal to A1,..,A5 whenever the corresponding r`k' is equal to 1. I have too many variables that I want to aggregate like this way and I was wondering maybe is there a way to write it more compactly than my code below. (I'm guessing that foreach can be used here but I'm not sure how)

gen A=.
gen B=.
forvalues k=1/5 {
replace A=A`k' if r`k'==1
replace B=B`k' if r`k'==1
}

Nick Cox · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-26 18:22:48Z

1

This maps one loop into two:

foreach v in A B 
    gen `v' = . 
    forvalues k=1/5 {
        replace `v' = `v'`k' if r`k'==1
    }
}

But perhaps your data structure needs revisiting, so that instead of looping twice you could get something else more simply. So, if it makes sense, stacking A B whatever into one variable would remove one loop.

answered Apr 26, 2021 at 18:22

Nick Cox

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1 Comment

adamsalenushka Over a year ago

Thank you!! It was just what I needed

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