Loop over files and rename variable with filename

[Jonas Wessel]

Hi there,

I have multiple .dta datasets and they all contain the same variable labeled "Q". I want to loop over the datasets and rename the variable with the name of the dataset (the filename). (e.g. the variable Q in dataset eps.dta should be renamed to eps) I came up with the following code:

loc datasets : dir . files "*.dta"
foreach f of local datasets {
    di as result "Reading `f'"
    use "`f'", clear
    local sheetname=subinstr("`f'",".dta")
    rename Q ("`sheetname'")
    save "`f'", replace
}

However, I get the error message "invalid syntax". Could somebody help me to fix my code?

I also looked at the https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...rename-command post, if I run the code of that post I get the error message "variable Q not found". I tried with different datasets and still get the same error message.

Thank you very much!

Best regards,
Jonas