Error when writing data

[Rohit Kattamuri]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to create a new file based on the data in my .dta file. I'm trying to create a full list of numbers based on starting and ending points in all the rows. Stata is showing invalid syntax error. Could anyone please help me point out the error in this?

The sample of the base file is:

sic_start sic_end
100 199
200 299
700 799
910 919
2048 2048

capture confirm file ffsic.dta
if !_rc erase ffsic.dta
tempname ffsic

postfile `ffsic' siccode using ffsic.dta

forvalues j=1/`=_N' {

forvalues k=sic_start[`j']/sic_end[`j'] {
post `ffsic' (`k')
}
}

postclose `ffsic'

[Clyde Schechter]

The construct -forvalues i = #/# {...}- requires that the #'s be numbers, not expressions that evaluate as numbers at run-time. So to do what you are trying to do requires a small modification of your code:

forvalues k= `=sic_start[`j']'/`=sic_end[`j']' {
    post `ffsic' (`k')
}