Hi,

I am using Stata version 16 and need some help in a task. Below is an example of my dataset:

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str3 LOCATION str7 TIME double unemp_data byte pt_output
"AUS" "1978-Q2" 6.260822 .
"AUS" "1978-Q3" 6.322245 .
"AUS" "1978-Q4" 6.301046 .
"AUS" "1979-Q1" 6.310916 .
"AUS" "1979-Q2" 6.318468 .
"AUS" "1979-Q3" 6.209076 .
"AUS" "1979-Q4" 6.184022 .
"AUS" "1980-Q1" 6.027812 .
"AUS" "1980-Q2"  6.22865 .
"AUS" "1980-Q3" 6.132486 .
"AUS" "1980-Q4" 5.986451 .
"AUS" "1981-Q1" 5.760276 .
"AUS" "1981-Q2" 5.506487 .
"AUS" "1981-Q3" 5.829319 1
"AUS" "1981-Q4" 5.965766 .
"AUS" "1982-Q1" 6.205254 .
"AUS" "1982-Q2" 6.565073 .
"AUS" "1982-Q3" 7.108994 .
"AUS" "1982-Q4" 8.792985 .
"AUS" "1983-Q1" 9.637337 .
"AUS" "1983-Q2" 10.22675 2
"AUS" "1983-Q3" 10.35557 .
"AUS" "1983-Q4" 9.707231 .
"AUS" "1984-Q1" 9.364694 .
"AUS" "1984-Q2" 9.134859 .
"AUS" "1984-Q3" 8.824427 .
"AUS" "1984-Q4" 8.631944 .
"AUS" "1985-Q1"  8.53574 .
"AUS" "1985-Q2" 8.450373 .
"AUS" "1985-Q3" 8.171014 .
"AUS" "1985-Q4" 7.861616 .
"AUS" "1986-Q1" 7.912621 .
"AUS" "1986-Q2"  7.80089 .
"AUS" "1986-Q3" 8.230766 .
"AUS" "1986-Q4" 8.330906 .
"AUS" "1987-Q1" 8.278452 .
"AUS" "1987-Q2"  8.17074 .
"AUS" "1987-Q3" 7.980749 .
"AUS" "1987-Q4" 7.915184 .
"AUS" "1988-Q1" 7.518405 .
"AUS" "1988-Q2" 7.644826 .
"AUS" "1988-Q3" 6.921671 .
"AUS" "1988-Q4" 6.754443 .
"AUS" "1989-Q1" 6.595482 .
"AUS" "1989-Q2" 6.164414 .
"AUS" "1989-Q3" 6.007802 .
"AUS" "1989-Q4" 5.853007 .
"AUS" "1990-Q1" 6.230017 .
"AUS" "1990-Q2" 6.464528 .
"AUS" "1990-Q3" 7.225374 .
end

The column "pt_output" is of interest here. "pt_output"=1 if there is recession and 2 if there is no recession. What I need to do is to fill up rows before "pt_output"=1 with the value of 2 and fill up rows before "pt_output"=2 with the value of 1. It should look like this:

Code:
* Example generated by -dataex-. To install: ssc install dataex
clear
input str3 LOCATION str7 TIME double unemp_data byte pt_output
"AUS" "1978-Q2" 6.260822 2
"AUS" "1978-Q3" 6.322245 2
"AUS" "1978-Q4" 6.301046 2
"AUS" "1979-Q1" 6.310916 2
"AUS" "1979-Q2" 6.318468 2
"AUS" "1979-Q3" 6.209076 2
"AUS" "1979-Q4" 6.184022 2
"AUS" "1980-Q1" 6.027812 2
"AUS" "1980-Q2"  6.22865 2
"AUS" "1980-Q3" 6.132486 2
"AUS" "1980-Q4" 5.986451 2
"AUS" "1981-Q1" 5.760276 2
"AUS" "1981-Q2" 5.506487 2
"AUS" "1981-Q3" 5.829319 1
"AUS" "1981-Q4" 5.965766 1
"AUS" "1982-Q1" 6.205254 1
"AUS" "1982-Q2" 6.565073 1
"AUS" "1982-Q3" 7.108994 1
"AUS" "1982-Q4" 8.792985 1
"AUS" "1983-Q1" 9.637337 1
"AUS" "1983-Q2" 10.22675 2
"AUS" "1983-Q3" 10.35557 2
"AUS" "1983-Q4" 9.707231 2
"AUS" "1984-Q1" 9.364694 2
"AUS" "1984-Q2" 9.134859 2
"AUS" "1984-Q3" 8.824427 2
"AUS" "1984-Q4" 8.631944 2
"AUS" "1985-Q1"  8.53574 2
"AUS" "1985-Q2" 8.450373 2
"AUS" "1985-Q3" 8.171014 2
"AUS" "1985-Q4" 7.861616 2
"AUS" "1986-Q1" 7.912621 2
"AUS" "1986-Q2"  7.80089 2
"AUS" "1986-Q3" 8.230766 2
"AUS" "1986-Q4" 8.330906 2
"AUS" "1987-Q1" 8.278452 2
"AUS" "1987-Q2"  8.17074 2
"AUS" "1987-Q3" 7.980749 2
"AUS" "1987-Q4" 7.915184 2
"AUS" "1988-Q1" 7.518405 2
"AUS" "1988-Q2" 7.644826 2
"AUS" "1988-Q3" 6.921671 2
"AUS" "1988-Q4" 6.754443 2
"AUS" "1989-Q1" 6.595482 2
"AUS" "1989-Q2" 6.164414 2
"AUS" "1989-Q3" 6.007802 2
"AUS" "1989-Q4" 5.853007 2
"AUS" "1990-Q1" 6.230017 2
"AUS" "1990-Q2" 6.464528 2
"AUS" "1990-Q3" 7.225374 2
"AUS" "1990-Q4" 7.867509 1
"AUS" "1991-Q1" 8.732559 1
"AUS" "1991-Q2" 9.633936 2
"AUS" "1991-Q3" 9.837148 2
"AUS" "1991-Q4" 10.21968 2
"AUS" "1992-Q1" 10.41661 2
"AUS" "1992-Q2" 10.63408 2
"AUS" "1992-Q3" 10.82272 2
"AUS" "1992-Q4" 11.14841 2
"AUS" "1993-Q1" 10.90242 2
end
The problem is, I am not very sure of the commands I should use in order to automate this process. Any help in this area would be appreciated. Thanks!