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| From | Nick Cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk> |
| To | "'statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu'" <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu> |
| Subject | RE: st: RE: RE: scalar do not allow -if- |
| Date | Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:39:17 +0000 |
I agree in terms of my own programming.
The original question was focused on saving scalars as results, in which case temporary names that disappear when a program has finished are of no use.
There is a middle way. Within a -program- (declared as such) use temporary names for scalars as here, and then when all is done use -return- or -ereturn- to define scalars as r() or e() class results.
A broader discussion is accessible at
SJ-6-2 dm0021 . Stata tip 31: Scalar or variable? Problem of ambiguous names
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G. I. Kolev
Q2/06 SJ 6(2):279--280 (no commands)
tips for avoiding abbreviation conflicts with variables
when naming scalars
Nick
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk
Maarten buis
--- Nick wrote:
> the code here optimistically assumes no clash between scalar
> and variable names.
>
> Wrapping with -scalar()- means being always safe and never
> sorry.
An alternative solution that I often prefer (mostly because
I am used to it) is:
tempname w1 w2 w3
scalar `w1' = ...
scalar `w2' = ...
scalar `w3' = ...
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