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Re: st: Macro parsing question.


From   Nick Cox <[email protected]>
To   [email protected]
Subject   Re: st: Macro parsing question.
Date   Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:54:02 +0000

Parsing is not the issue here; it's what happens in a loop.

The code can be simplified to

loc list2 a b c
foreach k of loc list2 {
  if "a" == "`k'" loc d %
  else loc d Value
}
di "`d'"

As Amadou says, this is what happens

. loc list2 a b c

. foreach k of loc list2 {
  2.   if "a" == "`k'" loc d %
  3.   else loc d Value
  4. }

. di "`d'"
Value

So, what's happening? The loop is cycling over "a" "b" "c" and the
code sets -d- to "%" if each of these is equal to "a", otherwise to
"Value".

We can do this step by step.

Is "a" == "a"? Yes. Set -d- to "%"
Is "a" == "b"? No. Set -d- to "Value".
Is "a" == "c"? No. Set -d- to "Value".

Once the loop is done, -d- is still "Value".

In fact, the loop can be short-circuited. Only the last element in the
list has an effect on -d- that survives beyond the loop, so it boils
down to

local d = cond("a" == "c", "Value", "%")

Nick

. loc list2 a b c

. foreach k of loc list2 {
  2.   if "a" == "`k'" loc d %
  3.   else loc d Value
  4. }

. di "`d'"
Value


On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 9:24 AM, Amadou DIALLO <[email protected]> wrote:

> I spent the night programming some stuffs but cannot understand why I
> don't obtain the expected results. I was expecting "%" but got
> "Value". What am I doing wrong?
>
>         noi se tr on
>         loc list1 a
>         loc list2 a b c
>         loc d
>         foreach j of loc list1 {
>            foreach k of loc list2 {
>               if "`j'" == "`k'" loc d %
>               else loc d Value
>            } // foreach k
>                 }
>         di "`d'"
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