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Re: st: apostrophes, quotation marks, left or right quotes?
.
Bravo!
-Dave
On Feb 25, 2008, at 3:38 PM, Dirk Enzmann wrote:
How does one produce left and right single quotes as they are used
in Stata?
Meanwhile, I know the answer. But because I am using Stata only
occasionally, every now and then I encounter typical beginners'
problems. Thus, it took me a while to find the correct answer and I
would like to comment on the difficulties hoping that this might
improve the situation of other beginners having the same problem.
Although I searched in "An introduction to Stata ..." by Svend Juul,
searched the release 9 "Getting started with Stata", [U] "User's
Guide", and [P] "Programming", and searched the internet (FAQ,
statalist), it took me more than half an hour to find the solution
(ultimately by trial and error).
I think the difficulty is due to a combination or an accumulation of
three things:
(1) I am using a non-English/American keyboard (German);
(2) The letter type used in printing (especially the Stata manuals!)
makes it impossible to decide how the correct quote should look like
on the screen;
(3) To find the answer you have to ask the correct question, but for
non-English speakers it is difficult to find the denotation of the
signs as used by the Stata community.
Let us start with the latter: In German we denote the signs
"Hochkomma". Looking this up in a standard dictionary renders
"apostrophe". Searching the indices of the manuals or the internet
for "apostrophe" does not help. Next, I tried "quotation mark". But
alas, ... You have to look for "left quote" or "right quote", but
how should I know if I don't know the answer already?
Browsing through the pages of the a.m. books did not help. Every
time I found examples using the quotes there were no indications on
how to produce the quotes using my keyboard. The problem: In
printing the left quote is a curved quote similar to a small round
left bracket - similar to "(" -, the right quote curved like a right
bracket ")". However, there are three different single quotes I can
create with my keyboard: One "forward" quote (similar to the forward
slash "/"): |�|, one "backward" quote (similar to the backslash
"\"): |`|, and one vertical quote (similar to the OR sign "|"): |'|.
Why don't they use one of these in the printed manuals? Why?
Everything would be so much easier!
Finally, after I solved the problem, I found the following exchange
in the Stata list (thread "Help with Reading Arguments for Do-File" http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2005-11/msg00499.html
): George wrote "Thanks, the quotation marks were indeed the source
of the problem. Unfortunately, the manual does not make that clear."
to which Nick (n.j. cox) responded: "Many people have been bitten by
this at precisely your stage, but it is wrong to blame the manuals.
I find at [U] 18.3.1 (p.200 of Stata 9 edition) that the key
difference between left and right single quotes is explained when
local macros are introduced."
To the contrary, it *is* the manuals to blame! If you read p. 200 of
the Stata 9 edition you find: "... we use a left single-quote
(located at the upper left on most keyboards), ... and a right
single quote (located under the " on the right side of most
keyboards)...". This description does not help at all if you are
using a non-English/American keyboard! And what is more: In printing
they always use the small "(" ")" quotes (forward-backward-curved),
so that it is really *impossible* to recognize the correct quote.
Why make it so difficult? Why not print it as it should look like?
Why not *print* `shortcut' ?
On the German keyboard, I have to use the "accent grave" (thus, the
apostrophe starting on the top left) for the left single quote, and
for the right single quote I have to use the "common" single quote
(the vertical quote you find above the #-sign on a German
keyboard ;-) , see:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/KB_Germany.svg/400px-KB_Germany.svg.png
Ultimately, the best description I found in Svend Juuls "An
Introduction to Stata ...":
"Hint: Producing the left single quote: In this book, the appearance
of single quotes differs a bit from how they look on your keyboard
and screen. Try 'help quotes' to see how they look on the screen.
Keyboard layouts differ, and on some keyboards, the left single
quote is produced by a dead key, meaning that nothing is produced
until you hit the spacebar." (p. 269)
If it is impossible to print the quotes in the manuals as they look
on the screen (and on the keyboard) - please, take over Svend Juuls
exemplary description.
I hope that this lengthy comment helps future beginners and
demystifies Nicks observation that "Many people have been bitten by
this". Bites are necessary for computations but aren't helpful at
all for learning.
Dirk
*************************************************
Dr. Dirk Enzmann
Institute of Criminal Sciences
Dept. of Criminology
Schlueterstr. 28
D-20146 Hamburg
Germany
phone: +49-(0)40-42838.7498 (office)
+49-(0)40-42838.4591 (Mrs Billon)
fax: +49-(0)40-42838.2344
email: [email protected]
www: http://www2.jura.uni-hamburg.de/instkrim/kriminologie/Mitarbeiter/Enzmann/Enzmann.html
*************************************************
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--
David C. Airey, Ph.D.
Pharmacology Research Assistant Professor
Center for Human Genetics Research Member
Department of Pharmacology
School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University
Rm 8158A Bldg MR3
465 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37232-8548
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FAX (615) 936-3747
EMAIL [email protected]
URL http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~david.c.airey/dca_cv.pdf
URL http://www.vanderbilt.edu/pharmacology
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