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From | Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com> |
To | "statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu" <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu> |
Subject | Re: st: Why does Stata return a syntax error when a quoted item containing spaces is the first element in a macro? |
Date | Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:53:39 +0100 |
If you want " " as inner delimiters, you need `" "' as outer delimiters. local sheets `" "All Individuals" <25 26 27 28+ "' The outermost delimiters must always be all inclusive whenever they are shown. Nick njcoxstata@gmail.com On 17 June 2013 22:23, Aaron Kirkman <ak1795mailserv@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm iterating over a macro that contains quoted elements with spaces, > but Stata returns a syntax error when a quoted element is the first > item. The list items are sheet names, e.g. "All Individuals", "<25", > ... , "28+". This code: > > local sheets "All Individuals" <25 26 27 28+ > > returns a syntax (r198) error on the macro declaration. I get the same > error if I use compound quotes: > > local sheets `""All Individuals""' <25 26 27 28+ > > If I move the quoted item to another position in the list, the macro > declaration is successful and I can iterate over the items properly: > > local sheets <25 "All Individuals" 26 27 28 > foreach sheetname of local sheets { > display `"`sheetname'"' > } > > I found a similar example on stack overflow > (http://stackoverflow.com/a/10067769): > > local mylist aaa bbb "cc c" dd ee ff > foreach filename of local mylist { > display `"`filename'"' > } > > which works in the same fashion and is successful. However, if I move > the quoted item to the beginning of the macro: > > local mylist "cc " aaa bbb dd ee ff > > Stata returns the same syntax error as before. How can I set up this > macro in order for Stata to parse it correctly? The "All Individuals" > item needs to be the first item in the macro; otherwise I would move > it elsewhere in the list to bypass the error. Am I escaping the quotes > incorrectly? > > I'm using Stata 12 MP on Windows 7 x64. > * * For searches and help try: * http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/ * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/