{smcl}
{* 4oct2001/12dec2004/7nov2005}{...}
{hline}
help for {hi:statsmat}
{hline}

{title:Produce matrix of descriptive statistics}

{p 8 17 2}{cmd:statsmat}
{it:varlist} 
[{cmd:if} {it:exp}] 
[{cmd:in} {it:range}] 
[{it:weight}] 
{bind:[ {cmd:,} {cmdab:s:tat(}{it:list_of_statistics}{cmd:)}}
{cmdab:m:atrix(}{it:matname}{cmd:)} 
{cmd:by(}{it:byvar}{cmd:)}
{cmdab:miss:ing} 
{cmdab:xp:ose} 
{cmd:listwise} 
{cmd:magic(}{it:#}{cmd:)} 
{it:matlist_options}
]

{title:Description}

{p 4 4 2}{cmd:statsmat} computes descriptive statistics for {it:varlist} and places
them in any specified matrix {it:matname}. By default, the statistics are
minimum, quartiles, maximum, mean and standard deviation: these and/or other
statistics returned by {cmd:summarize}, or easily computable from what it
returns, may be specified. The statistics are by default computed for those
observations which are non-missing across the {it:varlist}. aweights 
and fweights may be specified. 


{title:Options}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:stat(}{it:list_of_statistics}{cmd:)} specifies the statistics
desired, from the following list:

    one of           statistic
    {hline 6}           {hline 9}
    n N count        number of non-missing observations
    sum              sum 
    sum_w            sum of weight
    mean             mean
    sd SD            standard deviation
    Var var          variance
    se SE semean     standard error of the mean
    skew skewness    skewness
    kurt kurtosis    kurtosis
    min              minimum
    max              maximum
    p                percentiles 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 95, 99 
    q                percentiles 25, 50, 75 (quartiles)
    p1               1st percentile 
    p5               5th percentile
    p10              10th percentile
    p25              25th percentile
    p50 med median   50th percentile (median)
    p75              75th percentile
    p90              90th percentile
    p95              95th percentile
    p99              99th percentile 
    iqr IQR          interquartile range (p75 - p25) 
    range            range (max - min) 
    zero 0           0 (filler if desired for later editing) 
    extra .          . (filler if desired for later editing) (Stata 8 up)

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:matrix(}{it:matname}{cmd:)} specifies the name of a matrix in
which statistics are to be placed. This option is not required, but  
saving results in a matrix is the main rationale for {cmd:statsmat}.

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:by(}{it:byvar}{cmd:)} is allowed only with a single {it:varname}
in {it:varlist}. Results are given separately for the groups of observations
defined by distinct values of {it:byvar}, which is usually a categorical 
variable. 

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:missing} specifies that results should also be produced for those 
observations for which {it:byvar} is missing. The default is to omit them.

{p 4 8 2}{it:matlist_options} are those allowed with {cmd:matrix list}. See 
{help matrix}.

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:xpose} specifies transposing the matrix from the default, with 
statistics as columns, to statistics as rows. 

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:listwise} specifies that statistics are to be shown for all
non-missing values in each variable. 

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:magic(}{it:#}{cmd:)} specifies a number to be used to denote
statistics that are missing. In Stata 7, matrices may not contain missing 
numbers: in {cmd:statsmat}, as in {cmd:tabstat}, the number {cmd:1e+300} is, 
by default, used instead. In Stata 8 and 9, missing values are shown by 
default, but {cmd:magic()} may be used to over-ride that if desired. 
Other numbers may be specified: for example, if all 
results shown will be zero or positive, {cmd:magic(-999)} might be convenient.  
The strong presumption is that at some point downstream users will edit such
numbers to denote missing explicitly. 


{title:Examples}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. use auto}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. statsmat price mpg rep78, mat(out1)}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. statsmat price mpg rep78, mat(out2) s(mean sd p50)}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. statsmat price mpg rep78 if foreign, mat(out3) }

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. statsmat price mpg rep78, mat(out4) s(mean sd skew kurt) f(%3.2f)}

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. statsmat price, by(rep78) f(%9.0f) s(n min q max)} 

{p 4 8 2}{cmd:. outtable using myout4, mat(out4) replace}


{title:Authors}

    Nicholas J. Cox, Durham University, U.K.
    n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk

    Christopher F Baum, Boston College, USA
    baum@bc.edu


{title:Acknowledgements}     

    Petia Petrova inspired this program.


{title:Also see}

{p 4 17 2}On-line: {help summarize}, {help matrix}, {help tabstat}, 
{help outtable} (if installed), {help univar} (if installed)