Fred Wolfe wrote
> Can anyone see the problem?
>
> I have global macros
>
> mac list
> catvar1_totline: 2
> catvar2_totline: 9
>
> When I try to use them with the following code I get an error
>
> forvalues j = 1 / 2 {
> forvalues k = 1 / ${catvar`j'_totline} {
> di "`k'. ${catvar`j'vname`k'"
> }
> }
>
> The error is:
>
> - forvalues k = 1 / ${catvar`j'_totline} {
> unrecognized command: catvar1_totline
>
> Leaving the braces off gives "invalid syntax."
>
> . di ${catvar1_totline}
> 2
>
Zhiqiang Wang wrote
> Your codes appear fine to me. I haven't checked the Stata manual. I
guess
> that -foreach- may not get along well with glabol macro -{}-. To
avoid this,
> change the lines as follows:
> forvalues j = 1 / 2 {
> local newnum=${catvar`j'_totline}
> forvalues k = 1 / `newnum' {
> di "....'"
> }
> }
My analysis is along the same lines. Think of
forvalues ... {
as being the command Stata knows about.
Once a command is identified, Stata will then substitute
local and global macros. Stata is trying to understand this as
forvalues k = 1/$ {
catvar`j'_totline ...
...
...
which is evidently wrong in your case. (In principle, you _could_
have a program of your own with the name catvar1_totline.)
A quite different comment is that it's not clear
why you need the { } around the macro name in that position.
Finally, in
di "`k'. ${catvar`j'vname`k'"
the { is unmatched.
Nick
[email protected]
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
