Regarding Capture in Stata - append

Question

I have code that I mostly took from here (bottom column): http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/faq/append_many_files.htm
clear
file open myfile9 using C:\Users\RNCZF01\Documents\Cameron-Fen\Economics-Projects\Neighborhood-Project\list.csv, read
file read myfile9 line
insheet using `line', comma
save `line'.dta, replace
save master_data.dta, replace
drop _all
file read myfile9 line
while r(eof)==0 {
capture insheet using `line', comma
if _rc!=0 {
insheet using `line', comma
save `line'.dta, replace
append using master_data.dta, force
save master_data.dta, replace
}
drop _all
file read myfile9 line
}
Originally I had insheet using line', comma (I removed the back tick before the line because it was interfering with formatting). But the problem was that some of my sheets I was attempting to read were blank and so Stata would close. Thus I changed that to this:
capture insheet using `line', comma
if _rc!=0 {
insheet using `line', comma
However this closes after only reading the first document (and exits in the while loop before the first iteration of the while loop (second document) is done). My thought was that macros may disappear when they are used but I have no idea.

Answer 1

The reason your loop is closing is because you want
if _rc==0
for the inner loop. I am guessing your first file is not found, insheet throws up an error, and you are triggering the if _rc!=0 condition. Then the loop tries to run insheet without the capture and errors out. Another way of diagnosing this would be to run
set trace on
which I have found helpful in these sort of situations.
P.S. Not sure of the etiquette, but credit for this answer goes to lmo. I just thought it was worth writing up as an answer rather than a comment.