loops - Can I name files recursively in Stata?

Question

I am creating 1 test file for each year from 2001 to 2010. I define some variables for my 2001 file, and then, from 2002 onwards, I want Stata to merge it with the file from the previous year. My minimum working example looks like this:

set obs 100
g year=2001
g casenum=_n
g yob=1973
save file_2001, replace

forv n=2002(1)2010{
clear
set obs 110
g casenum=_n
g year=`n'
merge 1:1 casenum using file_`n-1', keepusing (yob)
save file_`n', replace
}

The error I get is file_2002.dta not found. Does anyone have any suggestions?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65927622/can-i-name-files-recursively-in-stata

Answer 1

In this line:

merge 1:1 casenum using file_`n-1', keepusing (yob)

There is no local macro named n-1. This should be `=`n'-1'