Setting positional argument to float type in program

[Sophie Andrews]

I'm writing a program, in which one of the arguments is always a decimal between 0 and 1. Here's some reproducible code showing my issue. Please direct me to how I can correct this code to allow for float (or double) arguments.

cap program drop test
program define test
syntax, f(numeric)
di `f'
end

test, f(.05)

This code throws the invalid syntax error code.

I've also tried switching numeric to float or double. If I change the type to str, it works but produces a string. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Clyde Schechter]

syntax, f(real)

Added: The classification of options it not be storage type, as often what is specified is not a variable in any case. It is instead a classification by how the option itself will be used. Options that will be used as numbers are either integer (if non-integer values are not allowed) or real.

Also added: It is not a good idea to name your program -test-, as that is also the name of an existing Stata command. I think the result of doing that is that you would be unable to use the Stata -test- command in the same do-file. At worst it might be undefined behavior. In any case, it will be confusing to others reading your code, and possibly to you as well if you come back to this after an absence of a few months.

[Andrew Musau]

cap program drop myprog
program define myprog
args f
syntax [, f(numlist max=1 >=0 <=1)]
di "`f'"
end

myprog, f(.05)
myprog, f(0)
myprog, f(1)
myprog, f(2)

Res.:

. myprog, f(.05)
.05

. 
. myprog, f(0)
0

. 
. myprog, f(1)
1

. 
. myprog, f(2)
f() invalid -- invalid number, outside of allowed range
r(125);

[Sophie Andrews]

Clyde Schechter Thanks! This was just a reproducible example, not my actual code or program name. Thanks for the help, both of you