st: For loops, If Statements and Delimiters

[Ryan Stevens <stevrl7@gmail.com>]

Hi all,

I have been having an issue with using for loop and if statements
together with a semi-colon delimiter. The following is some example
code for the problem I've come across:

# delimit ;
local j = 1;
foreach x of varlist var1-var3{;
       forval i = 1/12{;
             if(`j'<3){;
                 replace `x' = `x'[`i']-`x'[`j'] in `i';
                 local j = `j' + 1;
             };
             else{;
                 replace `x' = `x'[`i']-`x'[`j'] in `i';
                 local j = 3;
             };
        };
};

Whenever I try running this I get an error on my if statement, where
Stata interprets "< 3" as a variable name. Any suggestions for loops
and if statements using delimiters would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Ryan Stevens
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