Merging more than 2 files

[Tristan mazer]

Hi all,

I have around 300 files which need to be merged into one. The files are all in the same folder as my do file and are called 1.dta, 2.dta, 3.dta etc. I tried to merge the files with the code below:

clear all
global dir "C:\directory\stata data" 

local myfilelist : dir "." files "*.dta"

foreach filename of local myfilelist {

use 'filename', clear
merge 1:1 date using "$dir\1"
drop _merge
save "$dir\1", replace
}

as suggested in here. with this code i'm getting a invalid 'filename' error back from stata.

Could one of you help me solve this problem? Thanks!

Tristan

[Clyde Schechter]

Your error is

use 'filename', clear

The proper way to reference a local macro is to start with the left quote (`) character. Notice that it is not vertical: it slants down to the right. On a US keyboard you will find it to the left of the 1! key. Just change that one character and I think everything else will run.

[Josh Clothiaux]

Looks like an error in the line:

use 'filename', clear

To start a local quote, use the ` character.

use `filename', clear

[Tristan mazer]

Thank you very much! silly mistake...