You are quite right: if one uses semi-colons, they
are not all where they should be. In terms of my post,
however, I didn't believe that Socrates' code was exactly as he
posted because otherwise the error message should have
been
option forvalues not allowed
which was not what he reported. When
I stripped the semi-colons I also, as
a side-effect, fixed the apparent typos
that differentiate what he posted and
what I guess he used. But that was insufficient
for me to be clear on what the problem was.
As this is a thread started but not closed by the starter,
further comment is difficult.
Nick
[email protected]
John Bigelow
> The subject of semi-colons as line delimiters came up in a
> recent exchange
> between Nick Cox Socrates Mokkas as follows (in part)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:31:58 +0100
> From: "Nick Cox" <[email protected]>
> Subject: st: RE: Re: Foreach nested in Foreach
>
> [ code suggestions deleted ]
>
> Here I replaced your -while- loop with another -forval-
> and stripped the semi-colons cluttering up the
> code like weeds on a lawn. (Seriously, using ;
> as a delimiter doesn't mix well with looping.)
>
> [ Additional suggestion of other points deleted ]
>
> Otherwise my wild guess is that your problem
> is a side-effect of getting semi-colons
> in the wrong place.
>
> All of the foregoing was in respsonse to a request for help
> with the following code
> > #delimit;
> > su group, meanonly
> > forvalues i=1/`r(max)' {;
> > levelsof bvd_id_number, local(levels)
> > foreach l of local levels {;
> > local k=1
> > while `k'<=`year_count' {;
> > replace gamo=gamo + (tax[_`l']-tax[_`k'])*ratio_assets[_`k']
> > if bvd_id_number==`l'
> > local k=`k'+1
> > };
> > };
> > };
> >
>
> To my eye, at least one problem here looks like missing semi colons.
> I bet the code would run better if semi-colons were added as below.
>
> #delimit;
> su group, meanonly ; /* Semi-colon added here */
> forvalues i=1/`r(max)' {;
> levelsof bvd_id_number, local(levels) ; /* Semi-colon added here */
> foreach l of local levels {;
> local k=1 /* Semi-colon added here */;
> while `k'<=`year_count' {;
> replace gamo=gamo + (tax[_`l']-tax[_`k'])*ratio_assets[_`k']
> /* Semi-colon
> NOT added here /*
> if bvd_id_number==`l' ; /* Semi-colon added here */
> local k=`k'+1
> };
> };
> };
>
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