Creating dummy variables for each name in a variable

[Harry Jung]

Hello, I have a variable that contains names of around 50 towns.
I want to create a dummy variable for each town.
Is there an efficient way to do this? I want to avoid manually writing a code for each dummy (e.g. gen chicago_dummy = 1 if city == "chicago" or something).

[Dirk Enzmann]

Use tabulate with the generate() option specifying the prefix of your indicator variables (also called dummy variables), see help tabulate.

Depending on why you want to do this: Note that often factor variable notation in regression models (see help factor variable) is to be preferred, especially if you want to use post-estimation commands such as margins.

[Harry Jung]

Tabulate county, generate(dummy_county) worked! Thank you.