Steinar,
It does appear that -wordcount- has a limit on it. An alternative method would
be to use the extended macro functions. Adding this line to your code:
local number : word count `varlist'
seems to give the correct count. For example, simplifying your code to
program redo
syntax [varlist]
local antvar = wordcount("`varlist'")
noisily display "antvar: `antvar'"
local number : word count `varlist'
display in gr "Number of variables = `number'"
end
The results:
. set obs 100
obs was 0, now 100
. forva i = 1/1000 {
2. gen x`i' = uniform()
3. }
. redo x*
antvar: 64
Number of variables = 1000
Hope this helps,
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 7:54 AM
Subject: st: Odd results from wordcount
> Dear listers.
>
> I am in the process of writing a short program which will repeat multiple
> commands for many variables and combinations of variables. In general the
> user spesifies a variable list and commands, and the commands are repeated
> through all possible combinations of the variables.
> To run the loops the correct number of times I need to know how many
> variables are listed by the user. I do this through a wordcount of the
> variablelist. However, the wordcount seems to be unreliable. The program
> code and a transcript from part of the trace which illustrates the error,
> follows.
>
> Part of the program code looks like this:
>
> program redo
> syntax [varlist] [if] [in],cmds(namelist) [lhs(varlist)] [all] [savegraph]
> noisily display "varlist: `varlist'"
> noisily display "cmds: `cmds'"
> local antvar=wordcount("`varlist'")
> noisily display "antvar: `antvar'"
> .
> .
> .
> end
>
>
>
> Transcript from trace:
>
> . redo periode01 periode02 periode03 periode04 periode05 periode06 periode07
> periode08 periode09 periode10, cmds(logit lowess) lhs(dummis06mnd) all
> --------------------------------------------------------------- begin redo
> ---
> - syntax [varlist] [if] [in],cmds(namelist) [lhs(varlist)] [all] [savegraph]
> - noisily display "varlist: `varlist'"
> = noisily display "varlist: periode01 periode02 periode03 periode04
> periode05 periode06 periode07 periode08 periode09 periode10"
> varlist: periode01 periode02 periode03 periode04 periode05 periode06
> periode07 periode08 periode09 periode10
> - noisily display "cmds: `cmds'"
> = noisily display "cmds: logit lowess"
> cmds: logit lowess
> - local antvar=wordcount("`varlist'")
> = local antvar=wordcount("periode01 periode02 periode03 periode04 periode05
> periode06 periode07 periode08 periode09 periode10")
> - noisily display "antvar: `antvar'"
> = noisily display "antvar: 9"
> antvar: 9
>
>
> Unless my eyes are cheating me, the macro `antvar' contains ten words, not
> nine which is counted in this case. The error can be observed in other cases
> too, apparently at higher values of wordcount (10 counts as 8 with other
> variables). Any comments as to the cause of this problem would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
> On a side note, I did try looping using foreach, but had problems refering
> to the macro-values from within the nested loops. So I went with forvalues
> instead.
>
> Hope you can help.
>
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Steinar Fossedal
>
> *
> * 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/
*
* For searches and help try:
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* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
