Re: [Gretl-users] smpl in a function

<snip> "So you didn't get the error on the smpl command? I'm puzzled (though grateful that it works now!) -- I was working with the full data set so realtbill was in there, and the error was definitely being generated within the function. I'll try to reproduce it, but in the meantime thanks much." Bad news -- I reproduced the error. Good news -- I've tracked down the cause. The data set I've been working on is annual, 1947-2008, which I'm restricting to 1950-2005. So in my main program I have <hansl> open annual smpl 1950 2005 # # other stuff... # list ylist = spot loop foreach i ylist --quiet teststats[i] = minmin($i,realtbill,"I",0.5) endloop </hansl> Then the function "minmin" does forward & backward recursive testing. The problem seems to be related to the smpl command in the main program (ie, the 2nd line above). If I comment that out, the function works fine. Otherwise I get the error: Bad character 'b' in date string error in new starting obs *** error in function minmin I think this didn't happen for Allin when he tested it because the data file I posted was already sub-sampled to 1950-2005, so the smpl command had no effect. Things work as expected if I move the smpl command to the function: <hansl> function minmin(arguments) smpl 1950 2005 # # other stuff # end function open annual # # other stuff... # list ylist = spot loop foreach i ylist --quiet teststats[i] = minmin($i,realtbill,"I",0.5) endloop </hansl> So I've got things working, but I don't understand why the smpl in the original main program should be generating that error. PS