I believe you need to evaluate the c(filename) term. For example:
. sysuse auto,clear
(1978 Automobile Data)
. globa orig = c(filename)
. di "$orig"
C:\Program Files\Stata9\ado\base/a/auto.dta
. clear
. use "$orig"
(1978 Automobile Data)
.
Hope this helps,
Scott
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:owner-
> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Laura Gibbons
> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 6:24 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: c(filename), quotes
>
> I'm running Intercooled Stata 8.2 on Windows.
>
> I have 2 related questions about how to create a macro that contains the
> name of the open file, and then how to set up the quotes to access that
> file later. Here is a simplified example:
>
> . use actthetawide.dta, clear
> . global origdata c(filename)
> . di $origdata
> actthetawide.dta
>
> . clear
> . use $origdata
> invalid '('
> r(198);
>
> Does anyone know why the error message?
>
> Secondly, in real life there will usually be a path name that contains
> spaces, so my program will have to put quotes around the file name. I'd
> like it to interpret
>
> .use (some quotes)$origdata(other quotes)
>
> to mean
>
> use "actthetawide.dta"
>
> but no matter what combination of quotes I try, I can't get the filename
> to display inside the quotes. I get back "c(filename)" or "$origdata"
or
> some such nonsense, depending on what I do.
>
> I searched the manual and the archives to no avail, so I'm hoping you
can
> help!
>
> Many thanks, Laura
>
*
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* References:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laura E. Gibbons, PhD
General Internal Medicine, University of Washington
Box 359780
Harborview Medical Center
325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
phone: 206-744-1842 fax: 206-744-9917
Office address: 401 Broadway, Suite 5122
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
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* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/