Hello Statalist members,

This is my first post, so here it goes...

Below I have provided a sample of the variable I am dealing with. What I am trying to accomplish is to create a categorical variable or somehow extract the month intervals and other time information into a variable that I can more easily work with. I know I will need a loop for this, but this goes beyond my knowledge of programming.

I appreciate your feedback, and if you have a good reference on how to create loops, I would very much appreciate it.

Verónica

clear
input str13 postmorteminterval

"> 6-8 months "

"< 3 months "

"> 6-8 months "

"< 1 day"

"> 6-8 months "

"< 1 day"

"< 1 day"

"< 1 day"

"< 5 weeks "

"< 5 weeks "

"< 1 day"

"< 1 day"

"< 5 weeks "

"< 1 day"

"< 1 day"

"< 5 weeks "

"> 6-8 months "

"< 5 weeks "

"< 1 day"

"< 1 day"

"< 5 weeks "

"< 1 week "