Stata The Stata listserver
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date index][Thread index]

RE: st: tempfile & scope


From   "Nick Cox" <[email protected]>
To   <[email protected]>
Subject   RE: st: tempfile & scope
Date   Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:57:55 +0100

Danielle H. Ferry

> It has
> become glaringly obvious that I don't understand the 
> purpose of -tempname-
> here. Can someone please explain?

Well, in fact, I guess it's dispensable. 

You need a postname; it's just a convention 
to use a temporary name, as that way Stata 
_guarantees_ that it will not get confused
with any other file operations it may be 
doing concurrently. 

Without a tempname you lose that guarantee, 
but problems are perhaps unlikely in 
most situations. You would have to work 
quite hard at it e.g. using the same 
postname for different operations in different
programs in the same session could produce
an interesting mess. 

Nick 
[email protected] 
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/



© Copyright 1996–2024 StataCorp LLC   |   Terms of use   |   Privacy   |   Contact us   |   What's new   |   Site index