Re: st: RE: numlabel gives syntax error on one specific dataset

[Graham Wright <gwwri@brandeis.edu>]

Well it didn't work both before and after i updated, ALSO, my coworkers 
all get the same issue with this dataset. The bizarre thing is that even 
if I drop all but two variables (the id var and a single labeled numeric 
variable) the command still doesn't work, no matter what single variable 
I choose.  I can send you (or someone) this trimmed down version of the 
data set if someone is willing to look at it. But, what could possibly 
be causing this? Could the file corrupted in some way?  It looks totally 
fine in every other regard.



-Graham






On 2/23/2011 9:22 AM, Nick Cox wrote:
> You are using Mata. -numlabel- uses Mata.
>
> There are at least two possibilities otherwise:
>
> 1. Your -update- was incomplete or at fault in some way. Run -update query- to check.
>
> 2. Something in your dataset is odd. However, we can't test for the same problem without your dataset.
>
> Either way, if other list members can't diagnose this, it sounds like a problem for tech-support.
>
> Nick
> n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
>
> Graham Wright
>
> So I've often used the command
>
> numlabel, add force
>
> to make sure I can see the numeric values of the labels of the variable
> I'm working with and it usually works fine, but on this one dataset the
> command doesn't work.  I get the following error message when I try
>
> nothing found where subexp expected
> r(3000);
>
> and r(3000) says that it's a Mata syntax error message, but I'm not
> using mata!
>
> I even get the error when I generate the complete syntax using the pull
> down menu:
>
> . numlabel, add mask("#. ")
> nothing found where subexp expected
>
> But this is only on one specific dataset, On every other dataset I open
> the command works fine, so obviously it's not a syntax error, despite
> what the error message says. I can't think of anything weird about this
> specific dataset that would cause this command to give me a syntax error
> there and work everywhere else, but I don't even know where to look.
>
> Anyone have any advice? I'm running version 11 and just updated today,
> but that didn't fix the problem.
>
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