st: loops

[Hawal Shamon <hawalshamon@hotmail.com>]

Dear all!

I have problems in finding the correct syntax for a nested loop.

I
 have the string variables AB01_01, AB01_02, ..., AB01_30 and like to 
encode and rename them at the same time. Renaming is necessary to get 
rid of the "_" in the variables name. Do the result is supposed to be 
AB0101, AB0102, ..., AB0130.

I tried it with:

local i 1
while `i' <=30 {
foreach var of varlist AB01_01-AB01_30 {
encode `var', gen(AB01`i')
}
}

and received the following error message:
.AB011 already defined

I understand the problem. However, I have no clue how to avoid this problem.

Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance!

Best,

Hawal 		 	   		  
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/