Glen Waddell ([email protected]) wrote
> I use Word as my text editor. The "smart quotes" that Word applies have
> not given me trouble in earlier versions, but I have found that v.8
> chokes on them, yielding an invalid syntax error.
and several others offered helpful suggestions. Glen then asked
> These reasons aside... This was not a problem before switching to v.8.
> What is the difference?
Stata 8 should not differ from Stata 7 in its treatment of quotes.
True ASCII double quotes, left quotes, and right quotes (", `, ')
are understood by Stata 8 just as in Stata 7. Whatever other
characters Word might use for its "smart quoets" are not true
quotes and are not understood by Stata 8 or Stata 7.
My best guess is that something in the preferences for Word on
Glen's computer has changed or that the file he is saving for
Stata 8 is different in some other way from the files he saved
for Stata 7. If Glen were to take one of his current files that
is causing syntax errors in Stata 8, assuming that it contains
no commands that are not also in Stata 7, he could try running
it under Stata 7--I believe that it should fail there with the
same syntax error.
The best advice, as given by others, is not to use a word
processor as a text editor. If one is used, however, then
such features as "smart quotes" should be turned off, and
extra care must be taken to save the file in a plain ASCII
format.
--Alan
([email protected])
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