Re: st: clonevar

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@nd.edu>]

At 10:07 PM 10/11/2004 -0500, you wrote:
> At 09:52 PM 10/11/2004, you wrote:
> > At 09:29 PM 10/11/2004 -0500, Fred Wolfe wrote:
> > > -clonevar- reports an error incorrectly:
> > What is -clonevar-?  It doesn't seem to be a built-in command nor can I 
> > -findit-.  Perhaps it comes with some package of routines?  If so, you 
> > may want to contact the author directly.
> It was a new Stata command that came with the last update/upgrade. Try h 
> whatsnew.
Ok, got it.  -clonevar.ado- includes these lines:

        capture confirm new var `newvar'
        if _rc | ("`eqs'" != "=") Badsyntax

        capture confirm var `varname'
        if _rc Badsyntax

If I'm reading this right, the first capture confirm checks whether there 
already is a variable with the new name you want to use (and also whether 
you have an = sign?).  The 2nd capture confirm checks whether the old 
variable you want to clone exists.  If any of these checks produces an 
error, then this code gets executed:

program Badsyntax
        di "{p}{err}syntax is {cmd:clonevar {it:newvar} = {it:varname}} 
...{p_end}"
        exit 198
end

So, if you wanted more descriptive error messages, you could do something 
like create multiple Badsyntax programs with the messages you wanted.  As 
it stands, I agree that the current error message isn't too descriptive 
(but the command itself seems like a very nice addition to Stata).


-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
OFFICE: (574)631-6668, (574)631-6463
FAX:    (574)288-4373
HOME:   (574)289-5227
EMAIL:  Richard.A.Williams.5@ND.Edu
WWW (personal):    http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam
WWW (department):    http://www.nd.edu/~soc

*
*   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/