In this blog entry, I shall highlight one important, yet a less known, feature of the option keep() in nested regression tables of asdoc. If you have not used asdoc previously, this half-page introduction will put you on a fast track. And for a quick start of regression tables with asdoc, you can also watch this YouTube video.

 

Option keep()

 

There are almost a dozen options in controlling the output of a regression table in asdoc. One of them is the option keep(list of variable names). This option is primarily used for reporting coefficient of the desired variables. However, this option can also be used for changing the order of the variables in the output table. I explore these with relevant examples below.

 

1. Changing the order of variables

 

Suppose we want to report our regression variables in a specific order, we shall use option keep() and list the variable names in the desired order inside the brackets of option keep(). It is important to note that we have to list all variables which we want to report as omitting any variable from the list will cause asdoc to omit that variable from the output table.

 

An example

 

Let us use the auto dataset from the system folder and estimate two regressions. As with any other Stata command, we need to add asdoc to the beginning of the command line. We shall nest these regressions in one table, hence we need to use the option nest. Also, we shall use option replace in the first regression to replace any existing output file in the current directory. Let’s say we want the variables to appear in this order in the output file _cons trunk weight turn. Therefore, the variables are listed in this order inside the keep() option. The code and output file are shown below.

 

sysuse auto, clear
asdoc reg mpg turn, nest  replace
asdoc reg mpg turn weight trunk, nest  keep(_cons trunk weight turn)

 

 

2. Reporting only needed variables

 

Option keep is also used for reporting only needed variables, for example, we might not be interested in reporting coefficients of year or industry dummies. In such cases, we shall list the desired variable names inside the brackets of the keep() option. In the above example, if we wish to report only _cons trunk weight , we would just skip the variable turn from the keep option. Again, the variables will be listed in the order in which they are listed inside the keep option.  

 

sysuse auto, clear
asdoc reg mpg turn, nest  replace
asdoc reg mpg turn weight trunk, nest  keep(_cons trunk weight)

 

 

Off course, we could also have used option drop(turn) instead of option keep(_cons trunk weight) for dropping variable turn from the output table.