Dear statalist members,

For my assignment I use 4 datasets. In this 4 datasets I have a variable: Full_Name (string variable) and id (numerical). I need to make a dummy variable Male = 1 if the person is a male and Male=0 if the person is a female. The idea is that I hand collect this information.
Most of the names in the 4 datasets will overlap. That is why I have combined them into one dataset with the command append. I want to remove duplicates by id so I see the name only once. A person's name (so also id) can occur multiple times in the 4 datasets.
Now I am wondering when I want to add this information to my 4 datasets again how do I do that? I think that I will probably have to use the merge function. But do I then have to do 1:m? Or maybe I should use a different command than merge?

I hope I have formulated my question clearly. Feel free to let me know that I did not.

KInd regards,
Sarah