Sometimes the output of the list command can be clumsy, showing an entire observation with all of the variables wrapped across the screen. Sometimes you would like the data shown in columns without the observations wrapping across the screen. You can obtain an add on program called listblck that can do this. The listblck command was written by Jeroen Weesie and appears in the Stata Technical Bulletin #50. You can download listblck from within Stata by typing search listblck (see How can I used the search command to search for programs and get additional help? for more information about using search).
First we’re going to show some output from list to illustrate what it can do, and where you may run into problems, then we’ll move on to show you what you can do with listblk. To do this we’ll use the high school and beyond data file we use in our Stata Classes, the code below downloads the dataset.
use https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/stat/stata/notes/hsb2, clear (highschool and beyond (200 cases))
We use the list command to list the first five observations, and we see that this can be hard to read.
list in 1/5
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1. | id | female | race | ses | schtyp | prog | read | write | math |
| 70 | male | white | low | public | general | 57 | 52 | 41 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| science | socst |
| 47 | 57 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2. | id | female | race | ses | schtyp | prog | read | write | math |
| 121 | female | white | middle | public | vocation | 68 | 59 | 53 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| science | socst |
| 63 | 61 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3. | id | female | race | ses | schtyp | prog | read | write | math |
| 86 | male | white | high | public | general | 44 | 33 | 54 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| science | socst |
| 58 | 31 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
4. | id | female | race | ses | schtyp | prog | read | write | math |
| 141 | male | white | high | public | vocation | 63 | 44 | 47 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| science | socst |
| 53 | 56 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5. | id | female | race | ses | schtyp | prog | read | write | math |
| 172 | male | white | middle | public | academic | 47 | 52 | 57 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| science | socst |
| 53 | 61 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
We can try to the table option, which will put each case on a single line, which should be easier to read. (Note table is the default display method for list; however, Stata will switch to display mode under some circumstances.)
list in 1/5, table
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------+
| id female race ses schtyp prog read write math s
> cience socst |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------|
1. | 70 male white low public general 57 52 41
> 47 57 |
2. | 121 female white middle public vocation 68 59 53
> 63 61 |
3. | 86 male white high public general 44 33 54
> 58 31 |
4. | 141 male white high public vocation 63 44 47
> 53 56 |
5. | 172 male white middle public academic 47 52 57
> 53 61 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------+
Looking at the above output, we can see why Stata selected display mode, that is, to avoid having the table wrap. This is where listblck is useful. Compare the above output with the result from the listblck command below.
listblck in 1/5
. listblck in 1/5
+---------------------------------------------------+
| id female race ses schtyp prog |
|---------------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 male white low public general |
2. | 121 female white middle public vocation |
3. | 86 male white high public general |
4. | 141 male white high public vocation |
5. | 172 male white middle public academic |
+---------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------------+
| read write math science socst |
|---------------------------------------|
1. | 57 52 41 47 57 |
2. | 68 59 53 63 61 |
3. | 44 33 54 58 31 |
4. | 63 44 47 53 56 |
5. | 47 52 57 53 61 |
+---------------------------------------+
listblk has a number of options that allow us to modify what is shown. We can use the nolabel option to suppress the printing of value labels, but you can see that it still displays the data in a very wide format. This is because the formats for the variables try to provide enough space to display the labeled value (e.g., for the variable female, there is enough room to display the value “female”).
listblck in 1/5, nolabel
+-------------------------------------------+
| id female race ses schtyp prog |
|-------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 0 4 1 1 1 |
2. | 121 1 4 2 1 3 |
3. | 86 0 4 3 1 1 |
4. | 141 0 4 3 1 3 |
5. | 172 0 4 2 1 2 |
+-------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------------+
| read write math science socst |
|---------------------------------------|
1. | 57 52 41 47 57 |
2. | 68 59 53 63 61 |
3. | 44 33 54 58 31 |
4. | 63 44 47 53 56 |
5. | 47 52 57 53 61 |
+---------------------------------------+
To try and fit more on a single line, you can suppress the display of the observation number.
In the examples above, sometimes the socst variable was displayed all alone and you could not see the id associated with the socst score. Since id is the first variable, we can use the repeat(1) option and the first variable will be repeated for every block of data.listblck in 1/5, nolabel noobs +--------------------------------------------------+ | id female race ses schtyp prog read | |--------------------------------------------------| | 70 0 4 1 1 1 57 | | 121 1 4 2 1 3 68 | | 86 0 4 3 1 1 44 | | 141 0 4 3 1 3 63 | | 172 0 4 2 1 2 47 | +--------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------------------+ | write math science socst | |--------------------------------| | 52 41 47 57 | | 59 53 63 61 | | 33 54 58 31 | | 44 47 53 56 | | 52 57 53 61 | +--------------------------------+
listblck in 1/5, repeat(1)
+---------------------------------------------------+
| id female race ses schtyp prog |
|---------------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 male white low public general |
2. | 121 female white middle public vocation |
3. | 86 male white high public general |
4. | 141 male white high public vocation |
5. | 172 male white middle public academic |
+---------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------------------+
| id read write math science socst |
|---------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 57 52 41 47 57 |
2. | 121 68 59 53 63 61 |
3. | 86 44 33 54 58 31 |
4. | 141 63 44 47 53 56 |
5. | 172 47 52 57 53 61 |
+---------------------------------------------+
If you wanted a different variable first, you can use the order command to tell Stata what variable comes first. Suppose you wanted gender to come first, and you wanted gender repeated on every line. You could use the order command and then the repeat(1) option, as illustrated below.
order female
listblck in 1/5, repeat(1)
+---------------------------------------------------+
| female id race ses schtyp prog |
|---------------------------------------------------|
1. | male 70 white low public general |
2. | female 121 white middle public vocation |
3. | male 86 white high public general |
4. | male 141 white high public vocation |
5. | male 172 white middle public academic |
+---------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------------+
| female read write math science socst |
|------------------------------------------------|
1. | male 57 52 41 47 57 |
2. | female 68 59 53 63 61 |
3. | male 44 33 54 58 31 |
4. | male 63 44 47 53 56 |
5. | male 47 52 57 53 61 |
+------------------------------------------------+
You can use the order id command, and id is the first variable again.
order id
listblck in 1/5, repeat(1)
+---------------------------------------------------+
| id female race ses schtyp prog |
|---------------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 male white low public general |
2. | 121 female white middle public vocation |
3. | 86 male white high public general |
4. | 141 male white high public vocation |
5. | 172 male white middle public academic |
+---------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------------------+
| id read write math science socst |
|---------------------------------------------|
1. | 70 57 52 41 47 57 |
2. | 121 68 59 53 63 61 |
3. | 86 44 33 54 58 31 |
4. | 141 63 44 47 53 56 |
5. | 172 47 52 57 53 61 |
+---------------------------------------------+
For more information
For more information, see the help or reference manual about the list command and the order command.