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loopslocalstata
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Reputation: 15458

Macros in for loop in Stata

I have local variables x1 , x2, and x3 as follows

local x1 2 3 5
local x2 5 9 7
local x3 1 3 4

Now I define local x as 

local x `x1' `x2' `x3'

Next, I define for loop as 

 foreach var of varlist `x'{
    reg y `var'}

The problem is that stata is giving me the error (note y is dependent variable)

invalid name

Any suggestion in this regard will be highly appreciated.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 5042

Answers (2)

Keith
Keith

Reputation: 1037

Assuming these are variables, Richardh's solution would obviously work. However it requires that you rename all your macros even though that's not necessary.

You can just expanding the macros twice:

local x x1 x2 x3
foreach var of local x {
   reg y ``var''
}

You could also do this, but you'll have problems if your lists of variables are too long:

local x "`x1'" "`x2'" "`x3'" 
foreach var of local x {
  reg y `var'
}

Upvotes: 3

Richard Herron
Richard Herron

Reputation: 10092

I think of macros as "delayed typing". This is the approach I use.

sysuse auto, clear
local x1 weight
local x2 headroom trunk
local x3 length turn

forvalue i = 1/3 {
    regress price `x`i''
}

Upvotes: 6

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