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Re: st: problems with global macros in mata


From   "Benjamin Klaus" <[email protected]>
To   [email protected]
Subject   Re: st: problems with global macros in mata
Date   Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:35:31 +0200

Thank you very much for your answer, it works now! Indeed, I only tried to use global macros since I couldn't find the correct syntax for using the mata variable 'i' in order to create a flexible file name. This kind of syntax when trying to combine string components and numeric components is - at least from my perspective - not very well described in the mata help.

What also confuses me is the fact that 'st_global("i",strofreal(i))' and 'stata("display $i")' actually work when you execute it manually in the command window (being in mata), but doesn't when it is part of a do-file...

Benjamin

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:44:50 -0500
> Von: [email protected]
> An: [email protected]
> Betreff: Re: st: problems with global macros in mata

> Benjamin Klaus <[email protected]> writes, 
> 
> > I want to export the (changing) content of a matrix "x" from mata into
> > textfiles named "mi.txt", where "i" is a global macro. This should work
> in
> > the following way, but it seems that the value of the global macro is
> not
> > changed correctly at each stage of the loop...
> >
> >
> >       mata
> >       x = (76, 53, 48 \ 53, 88, 46 \ 48, 46, 63)
> >       i=0
> >       while (i<=5) {
> >       
> >               i = i + 1
> >               st_global("i",strofreal(i))
> >               stata("display($i)")        // just to check the value 
> >                                           // (it doesn't work)
> >               mm_outsheet("D:\m$i.txt", strofreal(x), "replace")
> >       }
> >       end
> 
> First let me address the problem asked about, and then let me give a
> better
> way to proceed.  Let's simplify the above to read 
> 
>         mata
>         i = 0 
>         while (i<=5) { 
>                 i = i + 1 
>                 st_global("i", strofreal(i))
>                 stata("display $i")
>        }
> 
> As Benjamin notes, it does not work:  It displays nothing.  What will work
> is 
> changing 
> 
>                 stata("display $i")
> 
> to
> 
>                 stata("display $" + "i")
> 
> What was happening is that, at compile time -- at the time the lines were 
> entered into Mata, the contents of $i were substituted, so -stata("display
> $i")-
> became -stata("display ")-.  The way I just coded it, $ and i do not
> appear 
> adjacent yet, at execution time, the string "display $i" is assembled and 
> then that is substituted when it goes to Stata.
> 
> Now let's talk about mm_outsheet("D:\m$i.txt", strofreal(x), "replace").
> Obviously, there is the issue of $i, and so the line could be replaced 
> with 
> 
>         mm_outsheet("D:\m$"+"i.txt", strofreal(x), "replace")
> 
> There still may be aproblem, however, depending on what mm_outsheet()
> does with its first argument.  I am not familiar with the function 
> -mm_outsheet()-, but understand, Mata at execution time does NOT
> substitute
> macros.  "$i" just means "$i".  The reason -stata(display $" + "i")-
> worked 
> is that -display $i- was passed to Stata, and Stata expanded the macro $i.
> 
> Mata expands macros at compile time, but not at execution time.  
> 
> One solution would be to use -st_macroexpand()-, the Mata function that 
> expands macros:
> 
>         mm_outsheet(st_macroexpand("D:\m$"+"i.txt"), strofreal(x),
> "replace")
> 
> That would work, but it is not the solution I am recommending.
> 
> At this point, Benjamin must be thinking that working with macros in Mata
> is
> mighty inconvenient.  He would be right.  Macros, so natural in Stata, are
> not natural in Mata and in fact are not necessary.  The better way to 
> code the problem would be, 
> 
>         i = 0 
>         while (i<=5) { 
>                 i = i + 1 
>                 mm_outsheet("D:\m"+strofreal(i)+".txt", strofreal(x),
> "replace")
>        }
> 
> We might also use -for- rather than while, 
> 
>        for (i=1; i<=5; i++) { 
>                 mm_outsheet("D:\m"+strofreal(i)+".txt", strofreal(x),
> "replace")
>        }
> 
> and perhaps the code would be more easily read if we coded, 
> 
>        for (i=1; i<=5; i++) { 
>                 fn = "D:\m" + strofreal(i) + ".txt"
>                 mm_outsheet(fn, strofreal(x), "replace")
>        }
> 
> or 
> 
>        for (i=1; i<=5; i++) { 
>                 fn = sprintf("D:\m%g.txt", i)
>                 mm_outsheet(fn, strofreal(x), "replace")
>        }
> 
> -- Bill
> [email protected]
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