foreach value label throwing error

[Girish Venkataraman]

I was trying to capture variable and value labels as a local macro to use for a K-M plot in Stata 18. The foreach loops runs well independently but when tacked as an include file with other include files, it seems to fail with an error. What could be the glitch? Furthermore, the code deletes the existing var and value labels and switches them to 0 and 1.


Error

. foreach L of local levels {
  2.    local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
  3. }
0 invalid name
r(198);
r(198);

// vlabgrabber.doh file below

* `blab' and level labels macro names are `vl0' `vl1'
local blab : variable label `b'
levelsof `b', local(levels)
local vlname: value label `b'
foreach L of local levels {
   local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
}

Code into which above is nestled in.

local b cllbtk
        drop if missing(`b')
        include ".\gv_includes\vlabgrabber.doh"            // Grab var nanme and level labels for graph
        include ".\gv_includes\kmopt_bin.doh"            // KM options for graph
        sts test `b', logrank
        local p = chi2tail(`r(df)',`r(chi2)')
        include ".\gv_includes\pvalkm.do"                // Format outputted p-values
        gvkm2 `b' 5 years                                                         // run program for 24 mo K-M plot

* add option texts below
*------------------------
local title     "`blab' adversely impact OS24"                                    
local note         ""
local caption     "*Standard errors adjusted for correlation between three centers in HR estimation"

*....do not tamper below************************
include ".\gv_includes\kmplotter.do"
drop km a0 a1

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input byte cllbtk
1
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
end
label values cllbtk yesno
label def yesno 0 "NO", modify
label def yesno 1 "YES", modify

[Clyde Schechter]

Well, neither your data example nor your code provides the complete information needed to fully replicate your problem. The file kmopt_bin.doh is not shown, and the data example contains no variable other than cllbtk, thereby precluding doing any testing of how this all plays out in the K-M plot.

But I ran a stripped down version of your problem, and it runs with no error messages and produces what I take to be the intended results:

. * Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
. clear*

. input byte cllbtk

       cllbtk
  1. 1
  2. 0
  3. 0
  4. 1
  5. 0
  6. 1
  7. 1
  8. 0
  9. 0
 10. 0
 11. 1
 12. 1
 13. 0
 14. 0
 15. 0
 16. 0
 17. 1
 18. 1
 19. 0
 20. 0
 21. 0
 22. 0
 23. 0
 24. 0
 25. 0
 26. 0
 27. 0
 28. 0
 29. 0
 30. 0
 31. 0
 32. 0
 33. 0
 34. 0
 35. 0
 36. 0
 37. 0
 38. 0
 39. 0
 40. 0
 41. 0
 42. 0
 43. 0
 44. 0
 45. 0
 46. 0
 47. 0
 48. 0
 49. 0
 50. 0
 51. 0
 52. 0
 53. 0
 54. 0
 55. 0
 56. 0
 57. 0
 58. 0
 59. 0
 60. 1
 61. 1
 62. 0
 63. 1
 64. 0
 65. 1
 66. 0
 67. 1
 68. 0
 69. 1
 70. 1
 71. 1
 72. 1
 73. 0
 74. 0
 75. 0
 76. 0
 77. 1
 78. 1
 79. 0
 80. 0
 81. 0
 82. 0
 83. 0
 84. 1
 85. 0
 86. 1
 87. 0
 88. 0
 89. 0
 90. 0
 91. 1
 92. 1
 93. 1
 94. 1
 95. 0
 96. 0
 97. 0
 98. 0
 99. 0
100. 0
101. end

. label values cllbtk yesno

. label def yesno 0 "NO", modify

. label def yesno 1 "YES", modify

.
. local b cllbtk

.
. /* THIS MATERIAL SAVED AS vlabgrabber.doh
> * `blab' and level labels macro names are `vl0' `vl1'
> local blab : variable label `b'
> levelsof `b', local(levels)
> local vlname: value label `b'
> foreach L of local levels {
>    local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
> }
> */
.
. include vlabgrabber.doh

. * `blab' and level labels macro names are `vl0' `vl1'
. local blab : variable label `b'

. levelsof `b', local(levels)
0 1

. local vlname: value label `b'

. foreach L of local levels {
  2.    local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
  3. }

.
.
. macro dir
S_level:        95
F1:             help advice;
F2:             describe;
F7:             save
F8:             use
S_ADO:          BASE;SITE;.;PERSONAL;PLUS;OLDPLACE
S_StataMP:      MP
S_StataSE:      SE
S_OS:           Windows
S_OSDTL:        64-bit
S_MACH:         PC (64-bit x86-64)
_vl1:           YES
_vl0:           NO
_vlname:        yesno
_levels:        0 1
_b:             cllbtk

.

[Girish Venkataraman]

Well, neither your data example nor your code provides the complete information needed to fully replicate your problem. The file kmopt_bin.doh is not shown, and the data example contains no variable other than cllbtk, thereby precluding doing any testing of how this all plays out in the K-M plot.

But I ran a stripped down version of your problem, and it runs with no error messages and produces what I take to be the intended results:

. * Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
. clear*

. input byte cllbtk

cllbtk
1. 1
2. 0
3. 0
4. 1
5. 0
6. 1
7. 1
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 1
12. 1
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 1
18. 1
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 0
24. 0
25. 0
26. 0
27. 0
28. 0
29. 0
30. 0
31. 0
32. 0
33. 0
34. 0
35. 0
36. 0
37. 0
38. 0
39. 0
40. 0
41. 0
42. 0
43. 0
44. 0
45. 0
46. 0
47. 0
48. 0
49. 0
50. 0
51. 0
52. 0
53. 0
54. 0
55. 0
56. 0
57. 0
58. 0
59. 0
60. 1
61. 1
62. 0
63. 1
64. 0
65. 1
66. 0
67. 1
68. 0
69. 1
70. 1
71. 1
72. 1
73. 0
74. 0
75. 0
76. 0
77. 1
78. 1
79. 0
80. 0
81. 0
82. 0
83. 0
84. 1
85. 0
86. 1
87. 0
88. 0
89. 0
90. 0
91. 1
92. 1
93. 1
94. 1
95. 0
96. 0
97. 0
98. 0
99. 0
100. 0
101. end

. label values cllbtk yesno

. label def yesno 0 "NO", modify

. label def yesno 1 "YES", modify

.
. local b cllbtk

.
. /* THIS MATERIAL SAVED AS vlabgrabber.doh
> * `blab' and level labels macro names are `vl0' `vl1'
> local blab : variable label `b'
> levelsof `b', local(levels)
> local vlname: value label `b'
> foreach L of local levels {
> local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
> }
> */
.
. include vlabgrabber.doh

. * `blab' and level labels macro names are `vl0' `vl1'
. local blab : variable label `b'

. levelsof `b', local(levels)
0 1

. local vlname: value label `b'

. foreach L of local levels {
2. local vl`L': label `vlname' `L'
3. }

.
.
. macro dir
S_level: 95
F1: help advice;
F2: describe;
F7: save
F8: use
S_ADO: BASE;SITE;.;PERSONAL;PLUS;OLDPLACE
S_StataMP: MP
S_StataSE: SE
S_OS: Windows
S_OSDTL: 64-bit
S_MACH: PC (64-bit x86-64)
_vl1: YES
_vl0: NO
_vlname: yesno
_levels: 0 1
_b: cllbtk

.

Apologies for the passing half code that could not be entirely recapitulated. But yes, realized that the dummy variable cllbtk initially had no value labels assigned which explained why the loop failed. Assigning them in the same session and re-running the programs (with the loop) made the loop strip the assigned value labels and again throw the error. I had to clear everything from memory and label the values before it would run. Did not quite understand the logic of why it would do that. But I am working on making sure I have all value and variable labels assigned without missing values.Thanks for double checking and showing me the macro dir command.