st: re: egen with error after set obs erases obs

["Airey, David C" <david.airey@vanderbilt.edu>]

.

Thanks. I'm still confused.

When I have the editor open, and I type:

set obs 70

the rows 1-70 are enabled.

Then I issue the incorrect egen command, and those enabled rows revert to the state before the set obs 70 command was issue.

I guess I would have thought the egen command would not interfere with the result, even if it were no data, of the set obs 70 command.

Compare these command sequences below:

clear
set obs 10
egen x1 = seq(), from(1) to(10) block(1)
gen x2 = _n

vs

clear
set obs 10
egen x1 = seq() from(1) to(10) block(1)
gen x2 = _n

I would have thought the second sequence would still have created x2 for 10 obs. But it doesn't.

-Dave


> Not so, but it's not a very short story. 
> 
> First, your -egen- call is illegal. -from(1) to(5) block(14)- are all options. It is true that the error message is a little cryptic. But at the point of complaint Stata is prepared to see stuff matching  
> 
> syntax [if] [in] [, *]
> 
> whereas it sees 
> 
> from(1) to(5) block(14)
> 
> That does not match the syntax. In the absence of a comma, Stata chokes on the first token, namely "from", and interprets it as a illegal attempt to specify a varlist. Whether or not you have such a variable, such syntax is illegal, and you get thrown out of -egen- early on. 
> 
> You just need to specify the comma. 
> 
> Now in terms of your claim: You never had any data to erase. 
> 
> You started with no data, and -egen- never created the variable you asked; it didn't get that far. 
> 
> -set obs #- does not itself create observations when there are as no yet no variables; it is just a declaration of intent on your part acknowledged by Stata. The logic is simple: -set obs #- starting from scratch could not create observations because it would not know which variables to fill. 
> 
> Nick 
> n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 
> 
> 
> 
>> I noticed these commands
>> 
>> . set obs 70
>> obs was 0, now 70
>> 
>> . egen cell = seq() from(1) to(5) block(14)
>> varlist not allowed
>> r(101);
>> 
>> result in 0 observations on my Stata 11 copy for the Mac. After the egen error, I should still have 70 observations. After doing this I have to set obs 70 again before proceeding.
>> 
>> -Dave
>> 

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