Re: st: issue with forvalues/foreach

[Maarten Buis <maartenlbuis@gmail.com>]

What was causing your problem before is the backslash, which prevents
the evaluation of your local macro `i'. Because Stata was not
evaluating the macro Stata was looking for the file "`i'" in the
directory F:\nov_dot\decomposition\data\, and obvously could not find
it. Instead if you used the forward slash for your file specification,
e.g.: F:/nov_dot/decomposition/data/`i', than you could gotten this
loop to work without using -cd-.

For more see: Nicholas J. Cox (2008) "Stata tip 65: Beware the
backstabbing backslash" The Stata Journal, 8(3): 446-447.
<http://www.stata-journal.com/article.html?article=pr0042>

Hope this helps,
Maarten

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 4:04 PM, Rubil Ivica wrote:
> William, Rebecca, Nick, Ben, thank you all. I have finally come to
> something that works:
>
> cd "F:\nov_dot\decomposition\data\"
>
> foreach i in alb arm aze bel bih bul cro geo hun ///
>   kaz kyr lat lit mol mon pol rom ser taj ukr {
>
> use "`i'.dta", clear
> sum y0, d
> local pline = 0.5 * r(p50)
> replace y0 = y0 / `pline'
> replace y1 = y1 / `pline'
> save "`i'.dta", replace
>
> }
>
>
> So, the -cd- solution works, but I made a mistake when I first tried it:
> I used the whole path after -use- and not just the file name.
>
> Thank you people once again.
>
> Ivica
>
>
>
> --
> Ivica Rubil
> Ekonomski institut || The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
> Trg J. F. Kennedyja 7, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
> tel. +385-1-2362-269 || fax. +385-1-2335-165
> irubil@eizg.hr || www.eizg.hr
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Benjamin
> Volland
> Sent: 14. prosinac 2012 15:50
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: st: issue with forvalues/foreach
>
> Bok Ivice,
>
> I don't know what's going on in Stata. However, I can offer a simple
> solution.
> Based on your initial example I ran the following code
>
> sysuse auto.dta
> rename price var1
> rename mpg var2
> keep var1 var2
> save "F:\project\data\Test Folder\data_1.dta", replace
>
> sysuse autornd.dta
> rename weight var1
> rename mpg var2
> keep var1 var2
> save "F:\project\data\Test Folder\data_2.dta", replace
>
> sysuse bplong.dta
> rename patient var1
> rename bp var2
> keep var1 var2
> save "F:\project\data\Test Folder\data_3.dta", replace
>
> clear
> cd "F:\project\data\Test Folder\"
> forval i=1/3 {
>         use "data_`i'.dta,clear
>         compress var1 var2
>         save "data_`i'b.dta, replace
>         }
>
> And ran into the same problem, i.e.
>
> . file data_1.dta, clear not found
> . r(601);
>
> However, after simply changing the loop to
>
> forval i=1/3 {
>         use "data_`i'.dta
>         compress var1 var2
>         save "data_`i'b.dta, replace
>         clear
>         }
>
> everything runs like a charm.
>
> HTH, Ben
>
>
> On 14/12/2012 15:38, Rubil Ivica wrote:
>> Nick,
>> here is one code that I tried to run recently.
>>
>>
>> foreach i in alb arm aze bel bih bul cro geo hun kaz kyr lat lit mol
> mon
>> pol rom ser taj ukr {
>>
>> use "F:\nov_dot\decomposition\data\`i'.dta", clear
>> sum y0, d
>> local pline = 0.5 * r(p50)
>> replace y0 = y0 / `pline'
>> replace y1 = y1 / `pline'
>> save "F:\nov_dot\decomposition\data\`i'.dta", replace
>> clear
>>
>> }
>>
>> And what Stata gives me is:
>>
>> file F:\nov_dot\decomposition\data`i'.dta not found
>> r(601);
>>
>> end of do-file
>>
>> r(601);
>>
>>
>> Strangely, Stata seems not to recognize the last "\" in the first line
>> within the loop.
>>
>> Again, this happens whenever I have a path within a loop, be it
>> -forvalues- or -foreach-.
>>
>> Hope you can help.
>>
>> Ivica
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ivica Rubil
>> Ekonomski institut || The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
>> Trg J. F. Kennedyja 7, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
>> tel. +385-1-2362-269 || fax. +385-1-2335-165
>> irubil@eizg.hr || www.eizg.hr
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Cox
>> Sent: 14. prosinac 2012 15:17
>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>> Subject: Re: st: issue with forvalues/foreach
>>
>> Sorry, but your question remains very difficult to answer. But know
>> that the macro used in the -forval- or -foreach- statement is not
>> visible beyond the loop.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> On 14 Dec 2012, at 13:27, "Rubil Ivica" <irubil@eizg.hr> wrote:
>>
>>> I didn't send the actual code because it is long.
>>> The same problem appears whenever I have a path within the
> -forvalues-
>>> or -foreach- loop.
>>> The files are certainly in the folders that I am referring to in
>>> paths.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Ivica Rubil
>>> Ekonomski institut || The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
>>> Trg J. F. Kennedyja 7, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
>>> tel. +385-1-2362-269 || fax. +385-1-2335-165
>>> irubil@eizg.hr || www.eizg.hr
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Rebecca
>>> Pope
>>> Sent: 13. prosinac 2012 17:52
>>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>> Subject: Re: st: issue with forvalues/foreach
>>>
>>> Try this, since it looks like your files are all in the same
>>> directory:
>>> cd "F:\project\data\"
>>> forval i=1/30 {
>>>    use `"dataset_`i'.dta"', clear
>>>    compress var1 var2
>>>    save `"dataset_`i'.dta"', replace
>>> }
>>>
>>> Note on your -foreach- loop, you tell Stata that "country" is the
>>> macro. Therefore, your code should say:
>>> foreach country in croatia albania {
>>>    use "F:\project\data\dataset_`country'.dta", clear
>>>    compress var1 var2
>>>    save "F:\project\data\dataset_`country'.dta", replace
>>> }
>>>
>>> I also changed the colon in the save to an underscore, since I assume
>>> that is what you meant.
>>>
>>> If that doesn't work, please post the code you are really submitting.
>>> Perhaps there is something particular to it that isn't captured by
>>> your example.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Rebecca
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Rubil Ivica <irubil@eizg.hr> wrote:
>>>> William, what your suggested does not work either, even after
>>>> sustituting "/" for "\".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Ivica Rubil
>>>> Ekonomski institut || The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
>>>> Trg J. F. Kennedyja 7, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
>>>> tel. +385-1-2362-269 || fax. +385-1-2335-165
>>>> irubil@eizg.hr || www.eizg.hr
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>>> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of William
>>>> Buchanan
>>>> Sent: 13. prosinac 2012 17:28
>>>> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
>>>> Subject: Re: st: issue with forvalues/foreach
>>>>
>>>> Hi Ivica,
>>>>
>>>> Try:
>>>>
>>>> forv i = 1/30 {
>>>>         use `"F:/project/data/dataset_`i'"', clear
>>>>         compress var1 var2
>>>>         save `"F:/project/data/dataset_`i'b"', replace
>>>>         clear
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> It's probably a good idea not to permanently modify your data files
>>> (so
>>>> adding "b" to the end of the filename should make it easier to
>>>> distinguish the two).  Also notice the use of "/" instead of "\" in
>>> the
>>>> file path.  Using the "/" character will work on all platforms, and
>>>> avoids some of the problems that you faced.
>>>>
>>>> HTH,
>>>> Billy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Dec 13, 2012, at 8:21 AM, Rubil Ivica wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dear Statalisters:
>>>>>
>>>>> When I to run the following (two artificial examples just to
>>>> illustrate
>>>>> the issue)
>>>>>
>>>>> forvalues i = 1(1)30 {
>>>>>       use "F:\project\data\dataset_`i'.dta", clear
>>>>>       compress var1 var2
>>>>>       save "F:\project\data\dataset_`i'.dta", replace
>>>>>       clear
>>>>> }
>>>>>
>>>>> or for instance
>>>>>
>>>>> foreach country in croatia albania {
>>>>>       use "F:\project\data\dataset_`i'.dta", clear
>>>>>       compress var1 var2
>>>>>       save "F:\project\data\dataset:`i'.dta", replace
>>>>>       clear
>>>>> }
>>>>>
>>>>> Stata returns
>>>>>
>>>>> file F:\project\data`i'.dta not found
>>>>>
>>>>> It seems strange to me that Stata "forgets" the exactly specified
>>>> path:
>>>>> "F:\project\data\dataset_`i'.dta" in the first example
>>>>> and
>>>>> "F:\project\data\dataset_`i'.dta" in the second example.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Ivica Rubil
>>>>> Ekonomski institut || The Institute of Economics, Zagreb
>>>>> Trg J. F. Kennedyja 7, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
>>>>> tel. +385-1-2362-269 || fax. +385-1-2335-165
>>>>> irubil@eizg.hr || www.eizg.hr
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
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>
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-- 
---------------------------------
Maarten L. Buis
WZB
Reichpietschufer 50
10785 Berlin
Germany

http://www.maartenbuis.nl
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