Re: st: foreach / forvalues loop error

[Tirthankar Chakravarty <tirthankar.chakravarty@gmail.com>]

Steve,

I think that the way you have it set up now is actually safer coding,
but if you are sure about the order of items in your local then here
is the concision you are looking for. The relevant loop is the last
one.

/*******************************************/
clear*

// generate some data
set obs 110
gen primsitenum = .
g primary_site=""

// email readable local declaration (local now a string)
local x "Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx"
local x "`x' Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary"
local x "`x' Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other Site"

forv i=0/10 {
 replace primary_site = "`:word `=`i'+1' of `x''" ///
	in `=`i'*10+1'/`=(`i'+1)*10'
}

// make replacements
forvalues i = 1/11 {
    replace primsitenum = `i' if ///
		primary_site =="`: word `i' of `x''"
}
/****************************************************/

T
On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Eric Booth <ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu> wrote:
> <>
>
> On Aug 26, 2011, at 11:56 AM, Steve Nakoneshny wrote:
>
>> <snip>
>
>> As inelegant as this is, it works. The structure of this code leads me to think that it can be rewritten far simpler using a foreach loop. I am a relative neophyte with Stata and have just begun to explore the use of -foreach- and -forvalues-. I've written the following code as a first attempt:
>>
>> ----
>> gen primsitenum = .
>>
>> local x Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other Site
>>
>> forvalues n = 1/11 {
>>       replace primsitenum = `n' if Primary_site =="`x'"
>> }
>
>
>
> Your loop is doing this in the first step:
>> replace primsitenum = 1 if Primary_site=="Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other "
>
> though I think you expect it to do this:
>
>> replace primsitenum = 1 if Primary_site=="Oral Cavity"
>
> First of all, in your local x, you haven't told Stata how to differentiate "Oral Cavity" from "Oral", "Cavity", or "Cavity Oropharynx" -- how is it supposed to know which items in the list are single or multiple words?  The quick answer is to group them with quotes, like:
>
>> local x  `"  `"Oral Cavity"' `"Oropharynx"'  `"Hypopharynx"' `"Larynx"' `"Nasopharynx"' `"Paranasal"' `"Sinus"' `"Skin Salivary"' `"Gland"' `"Unknown Primary"' `"Thyroid"' `"Other Site"' "'
>
> Notice the use of double quotes -- see help quotes.
> Next, you are currently iterating 'n' in the for values loop, but not 'x' -- you need to get it to loop over 'x' as well.  One approach is to -tokenize- (see help -token-) your 'x' macro and then loop over it with:
>
> loc i = 1
> tokenize `"`x'"'
> while "`1'" != "" {
>        replace primis  = `i' if Primary == "`1'"
>        macro shift
>        loc i `++i'
>        }
>
> which iterates across the `x' macro using the while loop and the 'macro shift' line and iterates your counter `i' with the `++i' macro expansion operator.  (See -help macro- and -help extended_fcn- for more)
>
>
>
> Or try this MWE in a do-file:
>
> ****
> sysuse auto, clear
>
> g primis = .
> loc x `"  `"AMC Concord"' `"Buick Electra"' "'
> loc i = 1
> tokenize `"`x'"'
> di `"`1'"'
> while `"`1'"' != "" {
>        di in g "`1'"
>        di in r "`i'"
>        replace primis  = `i' if make == `"`1'"'
>        macro shift
>        loc i `++i'
>        }
>
> order primis
> ***
> - Eric
>
> __
> Eric A. Booth
> Public Policy Research Institute
> Texas A&M University
> ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
> Office: +979.845.6754
>
>
>
> *
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>



-- 
Tirthankar Chakravarty
tchakravarty@ucsd.edu
tirthankar.chakravarty@gmail.com

*
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