Global of globals in loops

[Laura Stella]

Hi everyone!

I’m trying to use a global of globals in a loop. Let me clarify: I have three global macros - "a", "b", and "c" - each containing a list of variables, for example: global a "1 2 3", global b "4 5 6 7", and global c "8 9". I need to run some regressions for each group of variables, so I’d like to create a new global that contains the names of these three original globals, like global outcomes "a b c". This would allow me to loop through each regression for every group of variables.


Here is the working code I currently have:

global a "1 2 3"
global b "4 5 6 7"
global c "8 9"

/*Tab 1: a */
eststo clear
foreach var in $a {
mainreg `var'
}
esttab using "$tex_maintables\rc1\a", $options

/*Tab 2: b */
eststo clear
foreach var in $b{
mainreg `var'
}
esttab using "$tex_maintables\rc1\b", $options

/* Tab 3: c*/
eststo clear
foreach var in $c{
mainreg `var'
}
esttab using "$tex_maintables\rc1\c", $options


And here is how I attempted to shorten it using a loop, but it does not work properly:

global a "1 2 3"
global b "4 5 6 7"
global c "8 9"
global outcome "a b c"

eststo clear
foreach group in $outcome {

foreach var in $`group' {

mainreg `var'
esttab using "$tex_maintables\rc1\$outcome", $options
}
}

My issue is how to handle globals within a global.

I hope my question is clear, but if you need further clarification, please ask. Thank you for your time!

[Maarten Buis]

Your solution seems to work:

. global a "1 2 3"

. global b "4 5 6 7"

. global c "8 9"

. global outcome "a b c"

.
. eststo clear

. foreach group in $outcome {
  2.         foreach var in $`group' {
  3.                 di `var'
  4.         }
  5. }
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Maybe the problem is with the mainreg command, since I don't know what that is.

More generally, I replace globals with locals in that application. They are much saver in the sense that locals guarantee that all output comes from a .do file and that .do file alone. That is important to ensure that your research is reproduceable.