Loop with alphabet

[Christian Hoefnagel]

Dear Stata-users,

I have a short question, namely how do I make a loop out of the following:

local z1 = "a"
local z2 = "b"
local z3 = "d"
local z4 = "e"
local z5 = "f"
...
z26 = "z"


Your help is very much appreciated!
Christian

[Mike Lacy]

Here are a couple of techniques depending on whether it's more convenient to work with "abcd" or "a b c d".
Check out -help string functions- to learn more.

local alpha = c(alpha) // built in "regular" english letters
// OR Your own local alpha = " a ä b ß c d e f g h i j k l m"  
//
di "working with: `alpha'"
//
local nchar: word count `alpha'
di "`nchar'"
//
forval i = 1/`nchar' {
   local z`i' = word("`alpha'", `i')
}
di "`z10'"
//
// Or if spaces are inconvenient
local alpha = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz"
local nchar = strlen("`alpha'")
forval i = 1/`nchar' {
   local z`i' = substr("`alpha'", `i', 1)
}
di "`z10'"

[Christian Hoefnagel]

Thank you Mike!