Notation problem

[Esteban Jara]

Hello. I have a foreach loop in which I save a file "`f'" without any problems. But when I try to save it in another folder, for example C:\folder1\folder2"`f'", it doesn't work. I know it's a notation problem, but I've been searching the help menus for a while and can't find the solution. Please help.

[Nick Cox]

The keys here are likely to be that

1. Double quotes

"  "

are not at all part of your filename under MS WIndows, which I presume is the unstated operating system here. Their purpose is just to act as delimiters, especially if your filepath or filename includes spaces.

2. Backslahes don't work well when followed by local macro references. This is explained in

SJ-8-3 pr0042 . . . . . . . Stata tip 65: Beware the backstabbing backslash
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N. J. Cox
Q3/08 SJ 8(3):446--447 (no commands)
tip to use forward slash instead of backslash for
directory and file names

which in turn is recycling with more detail the signal at [U] 18.3.11 https://www.stata.com/manuals/u18.pdf


Short of seeing the rest of the code and any concrete examples of your filenames, my guess would be that your syntax should be more like

"C:\folder1\folder2/`f'"