Macros

Local Macros

Local macros are declared with the local command, and only exist in the local scope.

local stringvars var1 var2

destring `stringvars', force

To loop over words in a local macro, see here.

Note that looping creates local macros to store the current word. These local macros are accessed in the same manner

foreach v of local stringvars {
  destring `v', force
} 

Global Macros

Global macros are declared with the global command. Otherwise, the grammar and rules are exactly the same as local macros.

global COHORT 1

Generally these are discouraged, because their very nature (i.e. globally available) creates side-effects.

To loop over words in a global macro, see here.

Expressions

If a macro definition includes an equals sign (=), then what follows is evaluated as an expression.

. local count1 = _N
. local count2 _N
. display "`count1' vs. `count2'"
100 vs. _N
. display "`count1' vs. " `count2'
100 vs. 100

Functions

If a macro definition includes a colon (:), then what follows is a macro function.

properties

results

type

format

value label

variable label

data label

sortedby

label

constraint

char

permname

adosubdir

dir

sysdir

environment

e()

r()

s()

all globals

all scalars

all matrices

display

list

rownames

colnames

rowfullnames

colfullnames

roweq

coleq

rownumb

colnumb

roweqnumb

coleqnumb

rownfreeparms

colnfreeparms

rownlfs

colnlfs

rowsof

colsof

rowvarlist

colvarlist

rowlfnames

collfnames

tsnorm

copy local

copy global

word

piece

strlen

ustrlen

udstrlen

subinstr

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