st: inputting data via a series of nested loops

["Ben Hoen" <bhoen@lbl.gov>]

Hi all,

I am trying to encourage Stata to enter data into a new dataset via a loop
in an ado file.  I was not able to find anything in the archives that fit my
situation (though I did find this:
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2010-07/msg00425.html).  

For example, say I wanted to end up with this as my dataset: 

type	place	time
a	1	1
a	1	2
a	2	1
a	2	2
b	1	1
b	1	2
b	2	1
b	2	2
c	1	1
c	1	2
c	2	1
c	2	2

I have tried the following which works:

local name "a b c"
foreach n of local name  {
	forvalues time = 1/2 {	
		forvalues place = 1/2 {
		display "`n' `time' `place'"
		}
	}
}
end
*

The results:


. do "B:\temp\STD08000000.tmp"

. local name "a b c"

. foreach n of local name  {
  2.         forvalues time = 1/2 {  
  3.                 forvalues place = 1/2 {
  4.                 display "`n' `time' `place'"
  5.                 }
  6.         }
  7. }
a 1 1
a 1 2
a 2 1
a 2 2
b 1 1
b 1 2
b 2 1
b 2 2
c 1 1
c 1 2
c 2 1
c 2 2

And therefore I hoped the following would work: 

input name time place
local name "a b c"
foreach n of local name  {
	forvalues time = 1/2 {	
		forvalues place = 1/2 {
		`n' `time' `place'
		}
	}
}
end
*

But, for which I get:


. do "B:\temp\STD08000000.tmp"

. input name time place

          name       time      place
  1. local name "a b c"
'local' cannot be read as a number
  1. foreach n of local name  {
'foreach' cannot be read as a number
  1.         forvalues time = 1/2 {  
'forvalues' cannot be read as a number
  1.                 forvalues place = 1/2 {
'forvalues' cannot be read as a number
  1.                 `n' `time' `place'
'`' cannot be read as a number
  1.                 }
'' cannot be read as a number}
  1.         }
'' cannot be read as a number}
  1. }
'' cannot be read as a number}
  1. end

. *
. 
end of do-file


Any ideas how to correct?

Thanks, in advance,

Ben


Ben Hoen
Staff Research Associate 
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Office: 845-758-1896
Cell: 718-812-7589
bhoen@lbl.gov
http://emp.lbl.gov/staff/ben-hoen

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