Dash in directory

[Adrien Bouguen]

Hi,

I am having trouble with one of my directory that includes a dash.

When I do :

local using "using "C:\Users\username\x.xlsx""

     if mi("`using'")==0  {
            export excel   treat   `using',    first(var) replace
        }

No problems. But when I do:

local using "using "H:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\0B6x88ncMTfSOemMtd0tJN1hOaHc\x.xlsx""
     if mi("`using'")==0  {
            export excel   treat   `using',    first(var) replace
        }

then I get an error "targets not found" .

How do I specify my option using so that any kind of directory (especially the ones with dash as I never had problems before) would be accepted?


Thanks

[Adrien Bouguen]

Ok found the solution using double quotations. The problem was from the if mi() not the export excel actually.

 
 local using "using "H:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\0B6x88ncMTfSOemMtd0tJN1hOaHc\x.xlsx""      if mi(`""`using'""')==0  {             export excel   treat   `using',    first(var) replace         }

[Hemanshu Kumar]

Adrien Bouguen the way you are using multiple double quotes in defining the local macro is a recipe for possible problems of all sorts. I would recommend defining the local using compound quotes. Then everything should work fine down the line.

local using `"using "H:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\0B6x88ncMTfSOemMtd0tJN1hOaHc\x.xlsx"'

[Hemanshu Kumar]

Sorry, there was an error in my code (I was missing the closing double quote):

local using `"using "H:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\0B6x88ncMTfSOemMtd0tJN1hOaHc\x.xlsx""'

[Adrien Bouguen]

Thanks Hemanshu!

Actually the using local was included in syntax command. My original program looks like that:

cap program drop newprog
program define newprog
syntax varlist  using

if mi("`using'")==0  { 
export excel `varlist' `using' 
}

end

If I run the command with a dash in the path:

newprog teachchar_pc1  using "H:\.shortcut-targets-by-id\0B6x88ncMTfSOemMtd0tJN1hOaHc\z.xlsx"

I get an error.

My fix was to simply do :

cap program drop newprog
program define newprog
syntax varlist  using

if mi(`""`using'""')==0  { 
export excel `varlist' `using' 
}
end

which solves the problem. Do you see any issue doing that? Can I solve the problem differently?

Best

[Hemanshu Kumar]

I would have written it as

cap program drop newprog
program define newprog
syntax varlist  using

if !mi(`"`using'"')  { 
export excel `varlist' `using' 
}
end

which is to say, one pair of double quotes is redundant in the if command.

[Adrien Bouguen]

Yes indeed. Thanks