Stata foreach loop to generate new variables from a list of variable names-CodePudding

I am looking to create a loop which creates dummy variables and names them from a list of variable names, and then stops once all variable names have been iterated over once.

My Attempt:


gen c = 0
foreach x of varlist stchpr01-stchpr11{
        foreach i in teacher_late teacher_absent teacher_skip teacher_bully teacher_harass_teachers teacher_harass_pupils teacher_language teacher_drugs teacher_alcohol teacher_health teacher_conflict{
            while c < 11{
                gen  `i' = 0
                replace `i' = 1 if `x' == 2 | `x' == 3
                replace `i' = 0 if `x' == 1
                replace `i' = . if missing(`x')
                replace c = c 1
            }
        }
}

CodePudding user response：

I sense that you are getting confused between

local macros and variables in Stata's sense (although the c machinery is legal, local macros are better for use as counters, except that you don't need one at all)
generate and replace as you're trying to generate variables that already exist
loops in parallel, which are not nested loops

What is a little unclear (to me) is exactly what you want to do.

I take it this is what you want.

You have 11 existing variables.
You want 11 corresponding new variables, each of which is to be an indicator 1 if the corresponding existing variable is 2 or 3, 0 if it is 1, and missing otherwise.

If so, this is a code sketch. NB: it's just one loop.

local newvars teacher_late teacher_absent teacher_skip teacher_bully teacher_harass_teachers teacher_harass_pupils teacher_language teacher_drugs teacher_alcohol teacher_health teacher_conflict
            
foreach x of varlist stchpr01-stchpr11 {
    gettoken new newvars : newvars 
    gen `new' = cond(`x' == 2 | `x' == 3, 1, cond(`x' == 1, 0, .)) 
}