Renaming underscored variables at once

[C Leon]

Hello,

I am using Stata 11 and have a set of variables that use underscores, see list below:

_401
_402
_402_1
_402_2
_403
_403a
_403b

I would like to rename the variables so that underscores are removed and replaced with an 's' in front of the variables, as shown below:

s401
s402
s402_1
s402_2
s403
s403a
s403b

Is there any way to rename this set of variables at once instead of renaming them one by one? I have tried the 'foreach' command but it seems that the underscores or letters at the end in some of them (e.g. _402_1 or _403a) create a problem and Stata returns an error.

Thank you!
Carr

[Richard Williams]

Try

ren _* s*

[Richard Williams]

p.s. Posts like this should go in the General forum (unless you were just practicing how to use the forums).

[C Leon]

Hi Richard,

It did not work. Stata returned the error " _ ambiguous abbreviation"

This is what I have tried so far:

foreach v of varlist _401 _402 _403 {
2. rename `v' s`v'
3. }

and

foreach v of varlist _503 _504 _506 _507 {
2. local V: subinstr local v "_" "", all
3. rename `v' s`v'
4. }

In both cases Stata just added the 's' in front of the '_' (i.e. s_401) and I want to remove the '_' and add the 's'.

Ps. you can move this to the general forum --- I'm not sure how to do it.

Thank you,
Carr

[Richard Williams]

I can't move the thread. If my next suggestion doesn't solve the problem, then start a new thread in General (and start most future threads in General as well).

My code seems to work in Stata 13 but not 11. So, download -renvars- from SSC and try this:

renvars, presub(_ s)

Here is an example I ran in Stata 11.2.

. clear all

. corr2data _401 _402 _402_1 _402_2 _403 _403a _403b, n(100)
(obs 100)

. des, simple
_401    _402    _402_1  _402_2  _403    _403a   _403b

. renvars, presub(_ s)

. des, simple
s401    s402    s402_1  s402_2  s403    s403a   s403b

[Nick Cox]

Carr Leon posted this question in two different forums. The other thread at http://www.statalist.org/forums/foru...iables-at-once mentions

1. the new rename, added in Stata 12, and so no use to Carr Leon without upgrading

2. renvars -- but renvars is not on SSC and must be downloaded from the Stata Journal website.

3. renpfix

[C Leon]

Thank you Nick and Richard. I downloaded renvars (directly in Stata by searching renvars, then clicking on “dm88_1″, and then clicking on “(click here to install)”) and it worked perfectly!

Many thanks,
Carr