Hi All,

I have the following dataset:

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str3 countrycode str11 ICPprice
"AFG" ".."         
"AFR" "39.07982148"
"ALB" "53.83712687"
"DZA" "45.23508552"
"ASM" ".."         
"AGO" "79.82878433"
"AIA" "97.41360309"
"ATG" "72.63896318"
"ARG" ".."         
"ARM" "16.70962173"
"ABW" "89.65779112"
"ASI" "45.7226766" 
"AUS" "256.9700959"
"AUT" "145.4994032"
"AZE" "15.04243425"
"BHS" "120.6793739"
"BHR" "67.57625401"
"BGD" "29.83023965"
"BRB" "132.7680104"
"BLR" "10.59945195"
"BEL" "174.5160786"
"BLZ" "37.99164549"
"BEN" "53.02015854"
"BMU" "355.4386983"
"BTN" "39.07347158"
"BOL" "25.30105996"
"BON" ".."         
"BIH" "43.01438147"
"BWA" "89.23311743"
"BRA" "117.9836807"
"BRN" "70.15991845"
"BGR" "42.90681599"
"BFA" "43.5967976" 
"BDI" "26.65219202"
"KHM" "47.38566384"
"CMR" "44.08840314"
"CAN" "168.9584085"
"CPV" "73.1905077" 
"CAR" "88.3268803" 
"CYM" "157.1553039"
"CAF" "36.61278971"
"TCD" "59.85437146"
"CHL" "92.5468105" 
"CHN" "56.09210426"
"COL" "47.56931717"
"CIS" "28.59475849"
"COM" "57.68924757"
"COD" "41.17055857"
"COG" "46.86545695"
"COK" ".."         
"CRI" "50.16387827"
"CIV" "45.50147089"
"HRV" "74.43327593"
"CUB" "14.37221151"
"CUW" "73.52015638"
"CYP" "106.0648896"
"CZE" "109.8475817"
"DNK" "237.5890292"
"DJI" "58.2275213" 
"DMA" "70.54655363"
"DOM" "52.03502938"
"ECU" "45.25883349"
"EGY" "16.29471443"
"EGZ" "16.29471443"
"SLV" "40.66085571"
"GNQ" "63.79955057"
"ERI" ".."         
"EST" "102.4000865"
"ETH" "37.05321506"
"EUO" "139.2542548"
"FJI" "106.5018517"
"FIN" "199.2948515"
"FRA" "180.2187364"
"PYF" ".."         
"GAB" "78.95394141"
"GMB" "36.15728215"
"GEO" "19.17526845"
"DEU" "164.9744304"
"GHA" "41.87313989"
"GRC" "128.2970257"
"GRD" "65.12945599"
"GUM" ".."         
"GTM" "43.67221252"
"GIN" "16.17318219"
"GNB" "50.96175835"
"GUY" ".."         
"HTI" "39.51590747"
"HND" "45.00246283"
"HKG" "105.7193129"
"HUN" "70.54577253"
"ISL" "118.0340736"
"IND" "29.76020198"
"IDN" "47.42345554"
"IRN" "45.40700063"
"IRQ" "36.43007027"
"IRL" "177.7538649"
"ISR" "147.568598" 
"ITA" "152.2785446"
"JAM" "62.75631689"
"JPN" "199.2481682"
end

I wish to convert the ICPprice variable to numeric values. Unfortunately, when I use the encode command, the resulting variable does not inherit the numeric values of the variable, but rather, creates new values (presumably by sort order) instead. Any help on this is much appreciated.


Best,
CS