Re: st: foreach / forvalues loop error

[Steve Nakoneshny <scnakone@ucalgary.ca>]

Thank you Tirthankar, Eric and Nick. With your help, I was able to make it work successfully!

Thanks,
Steve
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Nakoneshny
Research Assistant
Ohlson Research Initiative
University of Calgary - Faculty of Medicine
HRIC 2A02
3280 Hospital Dr. NW
Calgary AB T2N 4Z6
Tel: (403) 220-4347
Fax: (403) 270-3145
www.ohlsonresearch.ca




On 2011-08-26, at 11:37 AM, Tirthankar Chakravarty wrote:

> Steve,
> 
> I think that the way you have it set up now is actually safer coding,
> but if you are sure about the order of items in your local then here
> is the concision you are looking for. The relevant loop is the last
> one.
> 
> /*******************************************/
> clear*
> 
> // generate some data
> set obs 110
> gen primsitenum = .
> g primary_site=""
> 
> // email readable local declaration (local now a string)
> local x "Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx"
> local x "`x' Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary"
> local x "`x' Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other Site"
> 
> forv i=0/10 {
> replace primary_site = "`:word `=`i'+1' of `x''" ///
> 	in `=`i'*10+1'/`=(`i'+1)*10'
> }
> 
> // make replacements
> forvalues i = 1/11 {
>    replace primsitenum = `i' if ///
> 		primary_site =="`: word `i' of `x''"
> }
> /****************************************************/
> 
> T
> On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Eric Booth <ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu> wrote:
>> <>
>> 
>> On Aug 26, 2011, at 11:56 AM, Steve Nakoneshny wrote:
>> 
>>> <snip>
>> 
>>> As inelegant as this is, it works. The structure of this code leads me to think that it can be rewritten far simpler using a foreach loop. I am a relative neophyte with Stata and have just begun to explore the use of -foreach- and -forvalues-. I've written the following code as a first attempt:
>>> 
>>> ----
>>> gen primsitenum = .
>>> 
>>> local x Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other Site
>>> 
>>> forvalues n = 1/11 {
>>>       replace primsitenum = `n' if Primary_site =="`x'"
>>> }
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Your loop is doing this in the first step:
>>> replace primsitenum = 1 if Primary_site=="Oral Cavity Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx Nasopharynx Paranasal Sinus Skin Salivary Gland Unknown Primary Thyroid Other "
>> 
>> though I think you expect it to do this:
>> 
>>> replace primsitenum = 1 if Primary_site=="Oral Cavity"
>> 
>> First of all, in your local x, you haven't told Stata how to differentiate "Oral Cavity" from "Oral", "Cavity", or "Cavity Oropharynx" -- how is it supposed to know which items in the list are single or multiple words?  The quick answer is to group them with quotes, like:
>> 
>>> local x  `"  `"Oral Cavity"' `"Oropharynx"'  `"Hypopharynx"' `"Larynx"' `"Nasopharynx"' `"Paranasal"' `"Sinus"' `"Skin Salivary"' `"Gland"' `"Unknown Primary"' `"Thyroid"' `"Other Site"' "'
>> 
>> Notice the use of double quotes -- see help quotes.
>> Next, you are currently iterating 'n' in the for values loop, but not 'x' -- you need to get it to loop over 'x' as well.  One approach is to -tokenize- (see help -token-) your 'x' macro and then loop over it with:
>> 
>> loc i = 1
>> tokenize `"`x'"'
>> while "`1'" != "" {
>>        replace primis  = `i' if Primary == "`1'"
>>        macro shift
>>        loc i `++i'
>>        }
>> 
>> which iterates across the `x' macro using the while loop and the 'macro shift' line and iterates your counter `i' with the `++i' macro expansion operator.  (See -help macro- and -help extended_fcn- for more)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Or try this MWE in a do-file:
>> 
>> ****
>> sysuse auto, clear
>> 
>> g primis = .
>> loc x `"  `"AMC Concord"' `"Buick Electra"' "'
>> loc i = 1
>> tokenize `"`x'"'
>> di `"`1'"'
>> while `"`1'"' != "" {
>>        di in g "`1'"
>>        di in r "`i'"
>>        replace primis  = `i' if make == `"`1'"'
>>        macro shift
>>        loc i `++i'
>>        }
>> 
>> order primis
>> ***
>> - Eric
>> 
>> __
>> Eric A. Booth
>> Public Policy Research Institute
>> Texas A&M University
>> ebooth@ppri.tamu.edu
>> Office: +979.845.6754
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> *
>> *   For searches and help try:
>> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
>> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
>> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Tirthankar Chakravarty
> tchakravarty@ucsd.edu
> tirthankar.chakravarty@gmail.com
> 
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
> *   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/


*
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