program define ljs *! 1.1.0 NJC 2 December 1997 * generalisation to several vars * 1.0.0 NJC 19 September 1997 * left-justify string variables by padding with blanks on right version 4.0 local varlist "req ex" parse "`*'" parse "`varlist'", parse(" ") while "`1'" != "" { local type : type `1' if substr("`type'",1,3) == "str" { qui replace `1' = trim(`1') qui compress `1' local type : type `1' local spaces : display _dup(80) " " local length = substr("`type'",4,.) qui replace `1' = /* */ `1' + substr("`spaces'",1,`length' - length(`1')) } else di in bl "`1' is not a string variable" mac shift } end