typing "cd" gives error message "invalid syntax r(198);"

[Margo Channing]

Hello,

I have entered the following code:

global date 0702

global path "C:\Users\[username]\Desktop\[folder]"
global raw "$path\Data.dta"
global programs "$path\Do.do"
global output "$path\Sheet1.xlsx"

clear
set more off
set segmentsize 3g

No problem until now. But, when I enter
cd $output
I get the message
invalid syntax
r(198);

I'm confused about where the problem lies and how I can fix it.

Thanks for your help!

[William Lisowski]

Welcome to Statalist.

I see three possible problems, one of which causes the error message you received.

First, in your actual definition of $path, I expect you have substituted your real username for "[username]" and a real directory name for "[folder]". If not, that will cause a problem, but not the one you experienced.

Second, $output contains a file name, while the cd command requires a directory name. That too will cause a problem, but not the one you experienced.

Third, I'd wager that the folder name you substituted for "[folder]" in your definition of $path has blank character in it. In general, best practices are to surround paths in quotation marks, especially if it is not immediately obvious that they contain a blank.

cd "$path"

The embedded blank will cause exactly the problem you experienced: everything up to the blank is treated as a path, and everything after the blank is unexpected and generates a syntax error.

[Margo Channing]

You were right, and putting quotation marks solved the problem. Thanks a lot!!

[Richard Williams]

As a sidelight, this is why I never put spaces in directory names. Unfortunately some folder names are determined by the software you are using.