Steichen, Thomas
>
> Bill Gould followed up on a question from H�kon Finne and proposed:
>
> > What H�kon needs to have in `brands' is
> >
> > `"(make=="Buick Century" | make=="Buick Electra" | make=="Buick Opel")"'
> > `"(make=="Datsun 200" | make=="Datsun 210")"'
> > `"(make=="VW Dasher" | make=="VW Rabbit" | make=="VW Scirocco")"'
>
> This, unfortunately, leads to the dreaded macro length problem,
> as these commands show:
>
> . local buicks `"(make=="Buick Century" | make=="Buick Electra"
> | make=="Buick Opel")"'
> . local datsuns `"(make=="Datsun 200" | make=="Datsun 210")"'
> . local vws `"(make=="VW Dasher" | make=="VW Rabbit" |
> make=="VW Scirocco")"'
> . local brands `"`buicks'"' `"`datsuns'"' `"`vws'"'
> .
> . foreach brand of local `"`brands'"' {
> 2. list price if `brand'
> 3. }
> local macro name "(make=="Buick Century" | make=="Buick Electra"
> | make=="Buick Opel") too long
> r(198);
> .
>
> In this case, the macro length problem appears to be due
> to some internal problem in how -foreach- is handling macros.
>
> StataCorp, is there a solution?
>
> Tom Steichen
>
I believe the error here is not a bug, but a slip by Bill in
how the -foreach- is invoked: it should start
foreach brand of local brands {
That is, -foreach- works by indirection with this syntax. The user
specifies the name of a local and then -foreach- looks
inside that local for the elements of the list.
As you will see, Stata is objecting to the _name_, not
the contents.
Nick
[email protected]
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