Hi,
When would one want to save replace a temp file. Given that, it will get
erased at the end of the run? One can just create as many as needed is it
not? Or would that be inefficient vis-�-vis usage of system resources?
Rajesh
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steven Samuels
Sent: 18 September 2008 18:08
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: st: RE: -replace- should not be use with temporary files (was:
Comparing datasets)
Joseph Coveny wrote:
> This is news to me. I use -replace- all of the time with temporary
> files. What did StataCorp technical support say was the matter with
> using
> -save . . . , replace- with temporary files?
>
>> Steven Samuels wrote (excerpted):
>>
>> . . . Technical support told me that "replace" should not be used
>> when
>> saving temporary files.
>>
Joseph
What happened was--I tried to save a temporary file `t2', without
first defining it Stata did not issue an error message, and I had no
clue as to where I'd gone wrong. (My only excuse-I was tired.) Kerry
Kammire of StataCorp pointed out my error and went on to say that
there were actually two syntax errors.
"The second syntax error -save, replace- prevented Stata from issuing
an error
when `t2' is undefined. The -replace- option shouldn't be needed when
using
temporary files because they are freshly created each time the
procedure is
run."
Thus -replace- was unnecessary and, in this case, harmful.
-Steve
On Sep 18, 2008, at 12:22 PM, Nick Cox wrote:
> This came up on the list a while back.
>
> Suppose you mistype the local macro reference. Say you mean to type
>
> save `myfile', replace
>
> but you have a minute brainstorm and you type `myfil'. Further suppose
> that local macro `myfil' is not defined. Then Stata sees
>
> save, replace
>
> which to Stata is perfectly legal and intelligible. Stata will
> overwrite
> the original data file, which is not what you intended at all. Of
> course, typos here and there can have all sorts of consequences,
> all of
> which are strictly your fault, but this one could be catastrophic if
> what you had in memory was only a small part of the data or nothing to
> do with the dataset you last read in.
>
> There may be other reasons for not doing this, but that's one.
>
> Nick
> [email protected]
>
> Joseph Coveney
>
>
>
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