Nick,
local c //
will not work in the program because "//" is interpreted as the start
of the comment
it works in the command line though, because "//"-style comments are
prohibited in the command line input. To fix this:
1) open quotes before // like so: local c "//" , or
2) write it down as an expression, e.g. local c="/"+"/"
In any case, Stata fails to recognize "//" as a comment when it comes
as a result of macro expansion. But it works for a star ("*").
// --- begin of file testc.do ---
local c //
display `"`c'"'
local c ="/"+"/"
display `"`c'"'
local c "//"
display `"`c'"'
local c "*"
display `"`c'"'
`c' just nothing
local c "//"
`c' just nothing
// --- end of file testc.do ---
If writing out debugging messages, it may be more comfortable to use
di_g. See: help di_g.
Best regards, Sergiy Radyakin
On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 11:28 AM, Nick Cox <[email protected]> wrote:
Another is to prefix lines by e.g.
`c'
Setting
local c *
or
local c //
comments out those lines.
Setting
local c
zaps the macro.
Naturally any definition of the local as "*" or "//" must precede all uses
that require that interpretation.
The converse does not apply: if the local is not defined, Stata sees the
line.
More generally, you can define or undefine the macro at will.
I don't especially recommend this method, but it is an alternative that is
sometimes useful, and it matches practices in many programming languages.
Nick
[email protected]
Maarten buis wrote:
--- Paul O'Brien <[email protected]> wrote:
at times i need to comment out a number of lines, usually with * and
remove the * later to activate the commands.
is there a simple way to remove and add the * to a number of line at one
go?
One way to comment out a block of code is to surround them with /* and
*/ this way you have to remove only these two.
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
