Bug when calling _n-1 in a for loop using a local macro

[MATTHEW IPPOLITO]

I am trying to run a for loop that calls [_n-1] of a variable that takes a local macro as part of its name. It produces the error message, "1 invalid name". Is this a known bug in the software? I haven't yet figured out a workaround other than manually coding each instance. An example is below.


clear
set obs 1000
gen seq = _n
gen val = runiform()
replace val=(val<=.5)
tab val

forvalues i=1/10 {
gen so_`i'=.
}

forvalues i=1/10 {
local j `i'-1
replace so_`i' = 1 if val==1 & so_`j'[_n-1]==1
}

[daniel klein]

local j `i'-1

evaluates to

local j 1-1

which then implies

replace so_1 = 1 if val==1 & so_1-1[_n-1]==1

You want

local j = `i'-1

[MATTHEW IPPOLITO]

Thank you! That did the trick.