Idiosyncrasies of greshape

[Jared Greathouse]

I'd like to reshape this dataset.

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input float time double cf_2 float(relative_2 diff_2 te_ub te_lb) double cf_7 float(relative_7 diff_7) double cf_17 float(relative_17 diff_17)
193  5.282966605930639 -37   -.18137263  .9643626 -1.3271078   6.59757642203931 -37  .017612653  4.093034561446248 -37  -.003218468
194  5.220879939670351 -36   .019524666 1.1652598 -1.1262106  6.547392159706774 -36   .14655706  3.919490818169125 -36     .2373495
195  5.252170717491478 -35   -.21699777  .9287374  -1.362733 6.5142955300359535 -35  -.11739583 3.7529658132272203 -35    .08740246
196  5.195689556152522 -34    -.2410816  .9046536 -1.3868167 6.4494537874063935 -34    .2786136 3.6369668696814275 -34    .10042413
197  5.359129502628014 -33   -.05335005 1.0923852 -1.1990852 6.6490847053730455 -33  .019785266  3.850225651832311 -33    -.0209653
198  5.487136044786211 -32     .0388244 1.1845596 -1.1069108  6.708450181069689 -32 -.034400325  3.753413918287599 -32   -.01330209
199  5.571647188747559 -31   -.12390759 1.0218276 -1.2696427  6.756333682363369 -31  -.02909598   3.80694788079737 -31    -.0928294
200   5.47864186005766 -30   -.16858326  .9771519 -1.3143184  6.722987148826959 -30   -.3251652  3.673072642201028 -30    -.0501352
201  5.437423332720342 -29   -.11460648 1.0311286 -1.2603416  6.686096615909644 -29 -.074493356   3.79427259648948 -29   -.27745026
202   5.28074701685596 -28   -.10110005 1.0446352 -1.2468352  6.543743415209481 -28  -.18287782  3.676413550221301 -28    -.2633977
203  5.309166490084527 -27 -.0033126464 1.1424226 -1.1490479   6.54339432435244 -27  -.14157462 3.5476113927756767 -27   -.27269712
204  5.236153728270815 -26   -.16626227  .9794729 -1.3119974  6.469101968920353 -26  -.03249127  3.462803403388625 -26    -.1491063
205  5.167449361048614 -25    -.3409704  .8047648 -1.4867055  6.464428309333178 -25  -.07866895 3.5330889142176023 -25   -.12927483
206  5.015711914127917 -24    -.3650519  .7806833  -1.510787  6.307631171655488 -24  -.23327842  3.570718845107996 -24    -.1950899
207  4.967182619462756 -23    -.0945897 1.0511454  -1.240325  6.283824033581693 -23  -.20573145 3.4041504459157808 -23   -.07909318
208  4.879279026233051 -22   -.27591598  .8698192  -1.421651   6.17822029139363 -22  -.13299228 3.2686992703925424 -22   -.08499514
209  4.947852152794563 -21   -.31172135  .8340138 -1.4574566  6.193709047514927 -21    .0759891 3.5583066214483985 -21   -.05898802
210  4.664941616468249 -20    -.1677998  .9779354  -1.313535  6.008457322955599 -20   -.4125711 3.5199623628316696 -20   .017445989
211  4.587397079990673 -19    -.0786662 1.0670689 -1.2244014  5.932349991445613 -19   -.6780446  3.679448931260275 -19   -.02726492
212  4.684253175495709 -18  -.030148465 1.1155868 -1.1758837  6.076093679096494 -18    -.308342  3.533573072244473 -18    .17675216
213  4.893568810123201 -17   -.20294553  .9427897 -1.3486807  6.248096516272423 -17    .0474853  3.657513520612717 -17   -.04229631
214  4.800380451824756 -16    -.1959698  .9497654  -1.341705   6.16174173104781 -16  -.07867289  3.617417708909943 -16     .1654886
215 4.9447305537250505 -15   -.18439367  .9613415  -1.330129  6.247382353349807 -15   .21564274 3.8922666378134556 -15     -.320629
216  5.111348919350792 -14   -.24082546  .9049097 -1.3865607  6.447360369966539 -14 .0002233054 3.9237824476372047 -14   -.04791437
217  5.382460978668835 -13   -.50167596  .6440592  -1.647411  6.696408060879917 -13   .13170883  4.064839600544477 -13 -.0033705225
218  5.504403718222508 -12    .04244029 1.1881754 -1.1032948  6.866874503454819 -12   .02061911  4.103998550846539 -12    .23118316
219  6.002193170678932 -11     .7475107  1.893246  -.3982244   7.12112433740039 -11   .10598462  4.228122619416967 -11    -.2122449
220 10.937222851827093 -10   -.15422095  .9915142  -1.299956 11.507429212305944 -10  -.09312925  8.592658674146811 -10   .027830446
221  11.38529218536622  -9    .22185217 1.3675873   -.923883 11.924041218372235  -9    .4273992  9.140783934360117  -9   -.06386915
222  11.80954936539679  -8   .036493268 1.1822284  -1.109242 12.279772784486859  -8   .57887936  9.481274355319457  -8    .03900648
223 12.226560463261468  -7    .51172936 1.6574645  -.6340058 12.626181405346014  -7   .08743687  9.785985574613868  -7    .15373267
224 12.751570432839207  -6     .5951484 1.7408836  -.5505868 13.115387156711048  -6   -.0292408  10.27054002426071  -6    .08816645
225  13.20590537258044  -5     .3589559  1.504691  -.7867793 13.616813832868445  -5   .10653097 10.777237236580406  -5    .08437413
226 13.660462860041042  -4    .29201937 1.4377545  -.8537158 14.058503789556916  -4   .12998994 11.043653581547906  -4    -.1836606
227  14.16875966782095  -3    .51493424 1.6606694   -.630801 14.600333855374384  -3   .04707368 11.329495568476105  -3     .4218892
228 14.680327341325036  -2     .5902081 1.7359433  -.5555271  15.04410089108464  -2   .28803146 11.866782668775379  -2     .3841786
229  15.29093568436928  -1    .54582864  1.691564  -.5999066 15.608327302310041  -1    .4626032 12.241359782953616  -1     .3765687
230 15.667054911993288   0     .8554003 2.0011356 -.29033485  16.00192379026954   0    .3142135 12.433585510871174   0     .6495844
231  15.92571512292801   1    2.5558674  3.701603  1.4101323  16.66329733969614   1   -3.644054 12.643606663508233   1    1.6535716
232 16.293280003396173   2    2.1945646    3.3403  1.0488294  16.97255087704527   2    -3.47776 12.764091405237153   2     1.812603
233 16.711950045562038   3     2.261101  3.406836  1.1153659 17.382916936242363   3    -2.99445 13.163676858064562   3    1.6748613
234 16.731234755995207   4    1.8978755  3.043611   .7521403 17.380718193582947   4   -2.675229 13.218499447886247   4     1.651323
235  17.05620438831284   5    2.2418265  3.387562  1.0960914 17.626517226693718   5  -2.6396666 13.396059273265253   5    1.4180124
236 17.727221821551957   6    1.9428812 3.0886164    .797146 18.266470519259713   6   -2.492863 13.821394185878402   6    1.5337417
end
format %tq time

When I try this, using greshape

qui greshape long diff_ te_lb_ te_ub_  cf_ relative_, i(time) j(code) // using the good reshape!

Stata returns

"CheckVariableTypes():  3301  subscript invalid
                 <istmt>:     -  function returned error
r(3301);

But when I do

qui reshape long diff_ te_lb_ te_ub_  cf_ relative_, i(time) j(code) // using the slow reshape!

It works correctly. Why? And what might the fix for this be?

[William Lisowski]

Apparently Stata's reshape command is robust to the specification of variable stubs te_lb_ and te_ub_ that do not exist in the example data you provided, and apparently the greshape command is not robust to this error.

You should omit any mention of te_lb and te_ub, and they will be copied unchanged to each long observation. Or you should rename them te_lb_2 and te_up_2 so they will be copied to the long observations with code equal to 2.