Re: st: a question about loop and local marco name

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@ND.edu>]

At 03:42 PM 1/26/2006, Richard Williams wrote:
> At 03:20 PM 1/26/2006, Jian Zhang wrote:
> > It turns out that this time it works with AND without an equal sign in
> > the local marco command.  I am really confused.  Is there any explanation
> > why STATA does this?  Is there a general rule for using equal sign or not
> > in the local marco command?
> >
> > Thank you very much!
> >
> > Jian Zhang
> What Stata are you using?  As pointed out on p. 202 of the Stata 9 
> users Guide,  if you use the = sign, strings are limited to 244 
> characters in Stata/SE and 80 characters in Intercooled and Small 
> Stata.  Your string is more than 80 characters.  If you skip the 
> equals sign, you can go several thousand characters (how much 
> depends on what Stata you have.)  So, it is better to not use the equals sign.
Correction: If I am reading the help right, as of Stata 9.1 all three 
versions of Stata now allow string expressions of 244 characters. So, 
I am guessing that you are either using Stata 8 or else do not have 
the most up to date version of Stata 9.  In any event, you are still 
better off avoiding the equal sign in this case.


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Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
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