Check for valid variable names when reading data

[kylebarron]

I.e. you can't name a variable float

[mcaceresb]

I do this in two parts. First I loop through to make valid theoretical Stata names in mata here, but that doesn't check reserved names, which I do later on here.

You can just do this in one step, though, because strtoname() is also a regular Stata function. So you can run strtoname, check for conflicts, and rename appropriately. I just added a counter (1, 2, 3, etc.).

[kylebarron]

The Java api has a function makevarname, and that automatically tests to see if the varname is valid

[mcaceresb]

Very cool. Be sure to check if it just converts characters or if it also checks for reserved names.

[kylebarron]

It sounds like it returns null if the variable name can't be created