Dear Stata-users,

I have a problem with rename using local inside loop.

I would like to import an excel file with some block with same structure in the same page.

I use a loop but appear an error when variables are renamed.

I run:

Code:
    forvalues i = 5(30)275 {
        local b =  `i'+27
        local combustibles "Petroleo GasNat CarbonMin Hidroenergia Geotermica Nuclear Leña CañaDeriv OtrasPrim tes"
        import excel "Series de oferta y demanda (1).xlsx", cellrange(A`i':AZ`b') firstrow clear
        rename A Country
        foreach v of varlist B-AZ {
            local x : variable label `v'
            rename `v' `combustibles'`x'
            }
        reshape long `combustibles', i(Country) j(year)
        save `combustibles', replace
        }

Then appear an error:

Code:
syntax error
    Syntax is
        rename  oldname    newname   [, renumber[(#)] addnumber[(#)] sort ...]
        rename (oldnames) (newnames) [, renumber[(#)] addnumber[(#)] sort ...]
        rename  oldnames              , {upper|lower|proper}
r(198);

It works if I used:

Code:
    forvalues i = 5(30)275 {
        local b =  `i'+27
        local combustibles "Petroleo GasNat CarbonMin Hidroenergia Geotermica Nuclear Leña CañaDeriv OtrasPrim tes"
        import excel "Series de oferta y demanda (1).xlsx", cellrange(A`i':AZ`b') firstrow clear
        rename A Country
        foreach v of varlist B-AZ {
            local x : variable label `v'
            rename `v' c_`i'_`b'`x'
            }
        reshape long c_`i'_`b', i(Country) j(year)
        save `combustibles', replace
        }

What can I do?

Thanks in advance,

Sebastián.