Re: st: RE: -save- with emptyok

[Partha Deb <partha.deb@hunter.cuny.edu>]

Thanks Nick.  I implemented a solution, much like the one you suggest, that 
does not require emptyok.  But it seems to me that emptyok is an "empty" 
option if variables/observations need to be specified anyway before -save , 
emptyok- plays nicely with -append- or -merge-.  Perhaps this is something for 
the good folks at Statacorp to chew on.

cheers,

Partha


Nick Cox wrote:

> The issue here is not with -save-, but with -append-. 
> -append- needs something more than almost nothing 
> to join on to. I think you need to -save- your dataset
> with variables (even though there are no observations). 
> Fortunately, a token variable is sufficient (but evidently 
> necessary). 
> . clear
> . gen completeanduttergarbage = . 
> . save empty, emptyok 
> . append using auto
> . drop completeanduttergarbage 
> Admittedly, the error message here does not indicate
> the problem. 
> Nick 
> n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 
> Partha Deb
>  
> > I'm having trouble getting -save- to work with emptyok in the 
> > way I think it 
> > should.  Here's an example.
> >
> > . save temp, emptyok
> > (note: dataset contains 0 observations)
> > file temp.dta saved
> >
> > . use temp.dta
> >
> > . append using auto.dta
> > no dataset in use
> > r(3);
> >
> >
> > Shouldn't I be able to append?  What am I doing wrong?  I'm 
> > using Stata 9.2. 
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--
Partha Deb
Department of Economics
Hunter College
ph:  (212) 772-5435
fax: (212) 772-5398
http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~deb/

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