Updating a variable in a foreach loop

[Kwasi Tabiri]

Hello
I have a set of variables, each of which represents one of the benefits from implementing a program. Let's say these variables are bnft_1 bnft_2 bnft_3 bnft_4. Each of these variables is coded 1 ("Yes") if a household receives that particular benefit from the program, and is a missing value (.) otherwise

I would like to create a variable that counts the number of benefits a household receives from the program. I have tried using a loop concept that is applicable in Python but does not seem to apply in Stata. What I have done is as follows

gen ttl_benefits = 0

foreach var in varlist bnft_1 bnft_2 bnft_3 bnft_4 {
ttl_benefits == ttl_benefits + 1 if  `var'==1
}

This doesn't work, since Stata reads ttl_benefits as a command within the loop. I would like ttl_benefits to have a value 0 if a respondent received none of the benefits, 1 if they received only 1, and so on, up to 4.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Nick Cox]

See

help replace

for the immediate fix However,

egen ttl_benefits = rowtotal(bnft_*)

would be a solution without a tacit loop.

[Kwasi Tabiri]

Thanks Nick! The replace command turned out to be just what I needed.