Simple question

[Euslaner]

I have 4 variables, v1 v2 v3 and v4.
I want to create v5 = v1 / (v1 + v2 + v3 + v4)
I type into the command line: gen v5 = v1 / (v1 + v2 + v3 + v4)
and get back:

too many variables specified
r(103);

What, please is wrong? Thanks for any help,

Ric Uslaner

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Works fine for me.

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input double(v1 v2 v3 v4)
1 2 3 4
end

gen v5 = v1 / (v1 + v2 + v3 + v4)

[Nick Cox]

Bizarre error messages like that may be a sign of invisible characters that Stata can't follow in context. Goodness knows what the reason is here, but writing code in software unsuitable for writing code, e.g. MS Word, . could be one reason.