Problem with foreach

[Juny Benoit]

Hi dear member,

I am a beginner in the use of foreach. I need help to execute this code:

foreach var in eyrs_mf nostu_mf asr_mf {
gen d10_`var' = `var' - L10.`var'
su d10_`var' if year==2015, detail
scalar p50d`var' = r(p50)
scalar p75d`var' = r(p75)
}

When I execute the code above, I get the following error message:

. foreach var in eyrs_mf nostu_mf asr_mf {
2. gen d10_`var' = `var' - L10.`var'
3. su d10_`var' if year==2015, countrynumber
5. scalar p50d`var' = r(p50)
6. scalar p75d`var' = r(p75)
7. }
not sorted
r(5);
end of do-file
r(5);

I tell myself that the problem is located in this code «gen d10_`var' = `var' - L10.`var». My variables are ranked from 1950 to 2015 with missing data. I used a panel data. Even when I used xtset and try to sort using "bysort countrynumber eyrs_mf nostu_mf asr_mf: list wbcode" I always get the same error message. Thanks for your help

[Nick Cox]

Detailed comments on almost the same question were posted in your previous thread https://www.statalist.org/forums/for...4576-need-help even before you posted this.

You did right to post with a more informative title than previously, but you shouldn't ignore previous answers.

To focus on what is new here: Something like

xtset id year 

is the way to declare panel data -- and it goes hand in hand with the sort order given by

sort id year

and that is incompatible with any other sort order. In your case id may well be countrynumber

I can't see that

bysort countrynumber eyrs_mf nostu_mf asr_mf: list wbcode

will ever be needed or a good idea.

sort countrynumber year 
list countrynumber year eyrs_mf nostu_mf asr_mf: list wbcode  , sepby(countrynumber year)

should work fine.

If this doesn't answer your questions I think you'll need to read the FAQ Advice, especially https://www.statalist.org/forums/help#stata and

1. Give us a proper data example

2. Show the exact code you used to xtset