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RE: st: RE: RE: tabstat: how to save...


From   "Nick Cox" <[email protected]>
To   <[email protected]>
Subject   RE: st: RE: RE: tabstat: how to save...
Date   Wed, 10 May 2006 14:36:01 +0100

As Michael Blasnik has pointed out, this is not 
even equivalent to what I suggested. The effect
of 

. local incidnsum 

is to leave -incidnsum- undefined so that
when you type 

. scalar `incidnsum' = r(sum) 

Stata sees 

. scalar = r(sum) 

and complains that "=" is an invalid
name. So the error message does point
in the right direction. 

On why tempnames for scalars are a good idea, 
and other related matters, the main doc is
at [P] scalar in v.9: I think it was in the 
same places in v.8. 

Nick 
[email protected] 

b. water
 
> The reason I said what I said is when I did:
> 
> . do "C:\DOCUME~1\waterb\LOCALS~1\Temp\STD02000000.tmp"
> 
> . local incidnsum
> 
> . sum incidn, meanonly
> 
> . scalar `incidnsum' =  r(sum)
> = invalid name
> r(198);
> 
> end of do-file
> r(198);
> 
> . help scalar
> 
> revealled some example on how to use scalar, where none was 
> put in Stata quotes  ` '. This led me to surmise that it is 
> probably version issue of scalar syntaxes. But on closer look 
> I realised that perhaps you are referring to may lax ( due to 
> ignorance) use of -local- rather -tempname- in my -do- file, 
> and consequently having to use -scalar- without `'. Is this 
> what you meant by your warning? Although I think your warning 
> refers to [P] Macro, I would appreciate if you can direct me 
> to the pertinent reference in the manuals if this is 
> assumption was not correct. Nevertheless, I have used your 
> exact example using -tempname- and -scalar `foosum'-. 
 
[email protected]
 
> > No, on this detail you are wrong and version
> > is not an issue. 
> > 
> > So long as you follow my example and issue 
> > 
> > tempname foosum
> > 
> > then after 
> > 
> > su foo, meanonly 
> > 
> > scalar `foosum' = r(sum) 
> > 
> > is as valid as can be. 
> > 
> > You are correct that you can do what
> > looks the same thing by 
> > 
> > sum foo, meanonly 
> > scalar foosum = r(sum) 
> > 
> > but to do that is to live more dangerously. 
> > If you do this, sooner or later you will
> > get burned, or bitten, by use of the same name in 
> > different programs or use of identical
> > or similar names for scalars and variables.
> > 
> > The problem is aired in the manuals and 
> > rehearsed once more in a Tip by G. Kolev
> > in Stata Journal 6(2), to appear next
> > month. 
 
b. water
 
> > > Thank you Nick for your alternative suggestion. 
> > > 
> > > In Stata 8.2, scalar `foosum' = r(sum) is an invalid syntax 
> > > but checking on-line help showed valid syntax as scalar 
> > > foosum = r(sum). This suggestion worked for my purpose and as 
> > > you alluded, shorter than tabstat.

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