st: using the same macro in program & mata

[mfitzpat@stanford.edu]

Hi,

I am writing a program that calls Mata and then, within Mata, calls a  
Stata command.  Currently, what I have written to do this looks  
something like:

program name
 global depvar `1'
 mata : temp_("$depvar")
 .....
 mata:
 void temp_(string scalar dep)
 {
 ....
 stata("reg $depvar xvar")
 ....
 }
 ....

The program does what I would like, however, I read in the Stata  
Manual ([U]18.3.10) that one should never use global macros when a  
local macro will do the job.  Because I will be using this command  
(name) in conjunction with other programs and sharing it with others,  
I would like to avoid any possible adverse effects of using the global  
macro.  Is there a way to define this variable (depvar) as a local  
macro?

Thanks for your consideration,
Maria
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