Unexpected behavior of comments in do files

[John Mullahy]

I have for years run a particular do file in v17 and earlier versions (Mac OS) without problem.

In my newer v18 installation (newer Mac OS) I've noticed what appears to be an anomaly (bug?) with some of the comments in the do file.

Specifically, depending on how many adjacent asterisks are placed in the comment, the entire remaining do file is "commented out". Here's a simplified example.

It would appear that the "commenting out" problem depends on whether there is an odd or even number of adjacent asterisks, with the problem arising (at least in this example) with an odd number of adjacent asterisks between the beginning and ending forward slashes.

This does not happen in my v17 installation and I'm wondering if any of you might have insights as to what's going on. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can share.

mata

   /*********************************************************************/
   /*                         Comment                                      */
   /************************************************************************/

   s=1

end

mata

   /**********************************************************************/
   /*                         Comment                                      */
   /************************************************************************/

   s=1

end

mata

   /***********************************************************************/
   /*                         Comment                                      */
   /************************************************************************/

   s=1

end

mata

   /************************************************************************/
   /*                         Comment                                      */
   /************************************************************************/

   s=1

end

[Chinh Nguyen (StataCorp)]

This was a bug that was introduced in the last update. It'll be fixed in the next update.

[John Mullahy]

Thanks very much, Chinh.

[Rebecca Ivester]

Thank you so much for asking this! It has been driving me bonkers. Also--kudos to you for figuring out under what circumstances this happens . . . ha!