if condition "name global variable == " then enter the subroutine

[Francois Durant]

Hi,

I am trying to come up with an "if condition" that would allow me to enter parts of the code if the global variable == a certain name, otherwise ignore part of the code. I have tried the following but the syntax is not correct:

global universe "LNASCOMP"

if $universe == "LNASCOMP" { 
 display "Hello, world" }

I am getting the following output:

. if $universe == "LNASCOMP" {
LNASCOMP not found

Please help. Thanks.

[Joseph Coveney]

When the macro substitution occurs, the result is

if LNASCOMP == "LNASCOMP" {

and to Stata, this means

if the variable named LNASCOMP is equal to the string value "LNASCOMP" then . . .

Stata cannot find any variable named LNASCOMP in your dataset, and so it gives you that error message.

If you want the compare the string contents of the global macro to a particular string value, then

 if "$universe" == "LNASCOMP" {

[Nick Cox]

Joseph Coveney hits the nail on the proverbial head. But see also https://www.stata.com/statalist/arch.../msg01258.html