st: RE: Expression too long

["Nick Cox" <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

First try: 

gen cc = substr(cntrno,1,2) 

keep if cc == "AG" | cc == "AI" | <etc> 

If the -keep- is still too long, then 

gen tag1 = cc == "AG" | cc == "AI" | <etc>
gen tag2 = cc == "GB" | cc == <etc> 
keep if tag1 | tag2 

etc. 

If this strategy fails, see the FAQ: 

FAQ     . . . . . . . . . . . Defining group characteristics to create subsets
        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. F. Baum
        12/01   How do you efficiently define group characteristics
                in your data in order to create subsets?
                http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/data/characteristics.html

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 

keeler james

I was using the following command, but the Stata output said:

expression too long
r(130);

end of do-file
r(130);

Any idea of how to get round this? Many thanks.

The command was (just one command):

qui keep if substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AI" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AN" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AW" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BB" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BM" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BO" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BS" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BZ" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CO" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CU" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DM" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DO" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="EC" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="FK" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GD" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GF" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GP" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="HN" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="HT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="JM" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="KN" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="KY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LC" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MQ" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MS" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MX" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NI" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PR" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SV" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TC" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="US" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="UY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="VC" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="VE" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="VG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="VI" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="T1" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="T2" | substr(cntrno,1,2)<="99" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AA" |/*  
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AD" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AO" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="AT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BE" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BF" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BH" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BI" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BJ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BW" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="BY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CF" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CH" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CI" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CM" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CY" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="CZ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DJ" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DK" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="DZ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="EA" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="EE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="EG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ER" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ES" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ET" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="FI" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="FO" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="FR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GA" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GB" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GH" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GI" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GM" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GN" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GQ" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="GR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="HR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="HU" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="IE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="IL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="IQ" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="IS" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="IT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="JO" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="KE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="KW" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LB" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LS" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LT" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LU" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LV" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="LY" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MC" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MD" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MK" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ML" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MR" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MT" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MW" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="MZ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NE" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="NO" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PS" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="PT" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="QA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="RO" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="RU" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="RW" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SD" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SH" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SI" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SK" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SL" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SM" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SN" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SO" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SX" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SY" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="SZ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TD" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TG" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TN" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TR" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="TZ" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="UA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="UG" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="YE" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ZA" | substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ZM" | /*
*/ substr(cntrno,1,2)=="ZM"
        }

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