Martin is clearly right to emphasise that local macros are local (to the program, do-file, do-file editor contents or interactive session in which they are defined) but I don't know any reason at all why local macros should die at the end of a line.
Nick
[email protected]
Martin Weiss
-local-s are what you would guess from their very name: local. I.e., they are local to your Stata session, or to a do-file you execute. If you do this line-by-line, they die at the end of the line. So you have to use -global-s or execute the whole thing.
-local-s also do not take data type assignments such as "double". You can say
*************
local double a 1
*************
but then you have created a -local- with name "double" that contains the string "a 1": Not at all what you wanted. Type "ma di" to see all -macro-s at any time...
As you would guess, there is an article by Nick on the subject, but the SJ archive does not answer my calls today. I always get " Query failed: Incorrect information in file: './statajournal/main.frm'"...
Misha Spisok
Thank you, Professor Nichols--this answers a question I didn't ask but
was at the back of my mind. The formula I noted neglected any
possible covariance--is this the problem that arises in the context of
using two separate estimations on a single dataset?
I have two follow-up questions, one statistics-related and one Stata-related.
1. If I follow the -suest- in your example with the following:
. nlcom [r1_mean]_b[nearc4]/[r2_mean]_b[nearc4]
Does this give me the "correct" standard error? If so, is the
difference (0.00001913) due to rounding? I attempted to use doubles
in the code you provided, e.g., local double b1=_b[nearc4], but then I
can't even find a workaround to the problem in my second question.
When I get to
. di `b1'/`b2'*sqrt((`s2'/`b2')^2+(`s1'/`b1')^2-2*`c'/`b1'/`b2')
I get the error,
1572375310669762 invalid name
2. When I "do" (i.e., highlight a line of the do-file and hit the "do
selected lines" button) each line of code from a do-file editor, then
when I get to
di `b1'/`b2'
I get the error
invalid syntax
I (obviously to you probably, but not to me) don't have this problem
if I either (i) do the entire do-file at once or (ii) enter contents
interactively, line-by-line. I do, however, have a similar problem,
as mentioned in my first question, if I change the local assignment to
a "local double" assignment.
I apologize for any imprecision or incorrect use in my terminology
about locals, doubles, etc.
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