st: does stata create an index that can be used in loops?

["Brent Fulton" <fultonb@berkeley.edu>]

I am using stata 9 and want to know whether stata creates an index in loops
that I can use to pull from a local macro. For my end result, I would like
the following variables to be created:
var1_county, var2_county, var3_county

I did the following:

local a "var1 var2 var3"
foreach x of local a{
local b "`b' `x'"
}
*the loop above results in the following: local b "var1_zip var2_zip
var3_zip"

sort county
foreach x of local b{
by county: egen `x'_county=total(`x')
}
But this creates the variables: var1_zip_county, var2_zip_county,
var3_zip_county


Is there a way to do this: see*
sort county
foreach x of local b{
by county: egen *grab the appropriate element of local a*_county=total(`x')
}

Thanks, 
Brent Fulton

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