how do i do this with as few steps as possible?

[K_S]

 i have a database that looks like this 

id	diag 1	diag2	diag3	diag4	diag5	diag7	diag8	diag9
1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	0	0		0	0		1	1
4		0	0	0	0	0	0	0

I need to create a new_var that is equals to 1 if either one of the 'diag's  have a value of 1.

I did it by summing the diags and having the new_var = 1 if sum(diag1-diag24)>=1.

Is there another way to do this without typing a lot? Also, my technique only works if the observantions are 1s and 0s. I could do something like this if my obs values were different than 1 --> diag1=2 or diag2=1 or diag3=5....and so on then new_var=1. This isn't very practical when i have many 'diag's, so how could I do this without typing a lot?

[PeterClemmensen]

I think your solution is solid, though you would probably type sum(of diag1-diag24)>=1 🙂

[K_S]

good catch! thanks 😉 

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

Finding only a 1 (not a 2 or a 5) can be done with only mild complications.  The CAT family of functions works on numeric as well as character values.  So you could code:

if index(cats(of diag1-diag24), '1') > 0;

If your data contains two-digit numbers (so you need to find "1" but not "10"), it can still be done but gets mildly more complex.

[ballardw]

For a very few character shorter typing:

new_var = (index(catt(of diag:),'1')>0);

[Vish33]

sum(of diag1-diag9) >=1 OR max(of diag1-diag9) >=1 should work.