r(198)

[Silvana Builes]

Hi!

I am trying to label the variable depart_nacio, which was a string variable, but I applied destring to it.
When I run the forllowing code, it says at the end " invalid syntax" r(198)


label var depart_nacio "Departamento de Nacimiento"
label depart_naciol 05 "Antioquia" /*
*/ 8 "Atlántico" /*
*/ 11 "Bogotá D.C" /*
*/ 13 "Bolivar" /*
*/ 15 "Boyacá" /*
*/ 17 "Caldas" /*
*/ 18 "Caquetá" /*
*/ 19 "Cauca" /*
*/ 20 "Cesar" /*
*/ 23 "Córdoba" /*
*/ 25 "Cundinamarca"/*
*/ 27 "Choco" /*
*/ 41 "Huila" /*
*/ 44 "La Guajira" /*
*/ 47 "Magdalena" /*
*/ 50 "Meta" /*
*/ 52 "Nariño" /*
*/ 54 "Norte de Santander" /*
*/ 63 "Quindio" /*
*/ 66 "Risaralda" /*
*/ 68 "Santander" /*
*/ 70 "Sucre" /*
*/ 73 "Tolima" /*
*/ 76 "Valle del Cauca" /*
*/ 81 "Arauca" /*
*/ 85 "Casanare" /*
*/ 86 "Putumayo" /*
*/ 88 "San Andres" /*
*/ 91 "Amazonas" /*
*/ 94 "Guainia" /*
*/ 95 "Guaviare" /*
*/ 97 "Vaupes" /*
*/ 99 "Vichada"
label value depart_nacio depart_naciol


what is the issue?

[Ken Chui]

Seems you've used a lot of "block quote", which is */ + /*. Maybe confusing with line break "///". Another reason could be wrong command, a word "define" is missing. Try this:

label var depart_nacio "Departamento de Nacimiento"
label define depart_naciol 05 "Antioquia" ///
 8 "Atlántico" ///
 11 "Bogotá D.C" ///
 13 "Bolivar" ///
 15 "Boyacá" ///
 17 "Caldas" ///
 18 "Caquetá" ///
 19 "Cauca" ///
 20 "Cesar" ///
 23 "Córdoba" ///
 25 "Cundinamarca"///
 27 "Choco" ///
 41 "Huila" ///
 44 "La Guajira" ///
 47 "Magdalena" ///
 50 "Meta" ///
 52 "Nariño" ///
 54 "Norte de Santander" ///
 63 "Quindio" ///
 66 "Risaralda" ///
 68 "Santander" ///
 70 "Sucre" ///
 73 "Tolima" ///
 76 "Valle del Cauca" ///
 81 "Arauca" ///
 85 "Casanare" ///
 86 "Putumayo" ///
 88 "San Andres" ///
 91 "Amazonas" ///
 94 "Guainia" ///
 95 "Guaviare" ///
 97 "Vaupes" ///
 99 "Vichada"
label values depart_nacio depart_naciol

[Daniel Schaefer]

I agree, the second line is missing the define keyword. But here's the thing, contrary to my expectations, it appears to be legal to use a block comment to comment out the return whitespace character. I tested this because I (incorrectly) said that this was not valid syntax in one of Silvana's recent posts.

clear all
set obs 5

egen i = fill(/*
*/1 2 3 4 5)
list

. list

     +---+
     | i |
     |---|
  1. | 1 |
  2. | 2 |
  3. | 3 |
  4. | 4 |
  5. | 5 |
     +---+

This might be obvious to some here, but I definitely was not expecting that this would work.

[Clyde Schechter]

This might be obvious to some here, but I definitely was not expecting that this would work.

I've been using Stata long enough that I can remember back to a time when /* */ was the only way, other than -delimit ;- to spread a command over more than one line. I largely abandoned using it the minute Stata introduced ///, but the memory of it lingers. I'm sure it has been preserved to avoid breaking legacy code written in Juassic times.

Added: To be clear, I have not abandoned the use of /* */ entirely. I still use it to comment out large blocks of code. But I no longer use it to break a command over multiple lines.

[Ken Chui]

Oh, I think I see the trick now! On each row its */ ... /* and NOT /* ... */. So it's the line breaks that got commented out.

Thank you Clyde and Daniel.

[Silvana Builes]

Thnak you guys!!! Solved issue