st: RE: Transferring non real matrice from Mata to Stata.

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

Sorry, but it can't be done. 

Stata supports matrices of real numbers _only_: no strings, no complex numbers. In Stata you can hold strings in string scalars, macros, characteristics and variables, but not in matrices. 

A larger question is what leads you to think otherwise. See e.g. [U] 14.1.1:

"Stata's definition of a matrix includes a few details that go beyond the mathematics. To Stata, a matrix is a named entity containing an r X c (0 < r <= matsize, 0 < c <= matsize) rectangular array of double-precision numbers (including missing values) that is bordered by a row and a column of names."

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

Amadou DIALLO

I'm trying to send a non real matrice to Stata using st_matrix but
this is not working.
Some help may be handy.
Thanks.

. mata
------------------------------------------------- mata (type end to
exit) -----------------------------------
: A = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
"."\"yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"\1
type mismatch:  string \ real not allowed
r(3000);

: A
                                                           1
    +---------------------------------------------------------+
  1 |  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  |
  2 |                                                      .  |
  3 |                   yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  |
    +---------------------------------------------------------+

: A = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
"."\"yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

: A
                                                           1
    +---------------------------------------------------------+
  1 |  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  |
  2 |                                                      .  |
  3 |                   yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  |
    +---------------------------------------------------------+

: B = 1\2\3

: C = strofreal(B)

: C
       1
    +-----+
  1 |  1  |
  2 |  2  |
  3 |  3  |
    +-----+

: D = A,C

: D
                                                           1
    +---------------------------------------------------------
  1 |  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  2 |                                                      .
  3 |                   yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
    +---------------------------------------------------------
                                                           2
     ---------------------------------------------------------+
  1                                                        1  |
  2                                                        2  |
  3                                                        3  |
     ---------------------------------------------------------+

: st_matrix("D",D)
             st_matrix():  3253  nonreal found where real required
                 <istmt>:     -  function returned error
r(3253);

: end
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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