Refer to multiple variables in Stata

[Lanna Ng]

Hi,

My variables' names are something like var11, var11_oth, var12, var12_oth, var13, var13_oth.etc... up to 12. All of variables ending with "_oth" are in string format; and the others are numeric values.
I want to create a new variable which is the sum of all numeric values only. My code was like:
egen=rowtotal (var*)

But it will include the string variables also.
Is there any other way of refering to numeric variables without typing one by one?

Thank you so much,

Lanna

[daniel klein]

ds *_oth , not

will leave in r(varlist) a list of all variable names that do not end in _oth. An alternative is

ds , has(type numeric)

which will put all numeric variables into r(varlist).


For essentially the same approach with slightly different syntax, see findname (SJ):

Cox, N. J. 2020. Update: Finding variable names. Stata Journal volume 20, number 4
-- 2015. Update: Finding variable names. Stata Journal volume 15, number 2
-- Cox, N. J. 2012. Update: Finding variable names. Stata Journal volume 12, number 1
-- Cox, N. J. 2010a. Update: Finding variable names. Stata Journal volume 10, number 4
-- Cox, N. J. 2010b. Speaking Stata: Finding variables. Stata Journal volume 10, number 2

[Joro Kolev]

Apart what Daniel suggested above, you can read more on wildcards in Stata, * is not the only wildcard. You should also get in the habit when asking such questions to provide a sample of your data using -dataex-.

The following might or might not do the trick, as I do not have a sample of your data I do not know for sure:

egen=rowtotal (var??)

[Lanna Ng]

Thank Joro and Daniel. It is really helpful!!!