How to truncate string variables i.e. postcodes.

[Paromita Saha]

Hi there, how does one truncate a string variable such as a postcode in Stata? The variable comprises characters and numbers in this format e.g. XXX, XX, and I would like to truncate the variable to the first two characters. There are 1,400 observations. Much appreciated.

[Andrew Musau]

gen wanted= substr(postcode, 1, 2)

See

help substr()

[Andrew Irafasha]

Hi there, how do i save data in stata? thanks

[Rich Goldstein]

this question has nothing to do with this post and you should have started a new topic; but see

help save

[Maarten Buis]

you type in Stata help save and you will see that the command to save data is called save. Now be careful: Never overwrite the original data.