Stata - Tips PDF

17/6/2019 Stata | Tips
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Tips for using Stata

This page is a historical series of tips supporting Stata up to release 13, however, many of these
are still useful in Stata 15. For the latest in tips and tricks, see TechTips.
Additionally please see our list of Stata books available for purchase.
General Tips
Options
One of the strengths of Stata is the system of options, typed after a comma. If you list your
data you see the value labels of the variables. If you add the nolabel option after a comma
you will see the underlying code values.
list var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1
To see the underlying value codes rather than labels, add the nolabel option after a comma:
list var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1, nolabel
Note that you can list the variables in any order that you define.
BTW, the comma is a toggle. If used a second time it turns off the options. We could have writen
the above command as:
list var1 var7-var10 var3, nolabel, if gender==1
Top
Edit and browse

You know that you can use the Editor button to invoke a spreadsheet format for entering or
changing data. However, if you type the command edit you can limit what you see to a few
variables, in any order that you define:
edit var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1
To see the value codes rather than labels, add the nolabel option after a comma:
edit var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1, nolabel
When you want to leave the Editor, Stata checks that you want to preserve the changes you
made.
Top
https://www.surveydesign.com.au/tips.html 1/114
Do Editor
The Do-file Editor is very handy, invoked from a menu button or by typing
doedit .
• You can enter several lines or insert another file, such as one of your earlier *.do files.
• You can select a line in the Do Editor and Do only that line.
• Or Do from that line to the end of the set of instructions. Or select several lines and Do
them.
• At the end you can save the contents of the Do Editor as a *.do file.
Top
Folders
Type adopath or sysdir to see the location of various Stata folders for your main files,
updates, STB files, personal ado files, etc.
Top
Statalist
There is a Stata list server with useful advice about Stata, including new programs to help with
special problems.
• If you subscribe to Statalist you get messages throughout the day.

• If you subscribe to Statalist-digest you get a single file with all the messages once each
day.
See http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
Top
The Stata Journal and Stata Technical Bulletin (STB)

These publications contain supplementary information about Stata commands and the use of
Stata in research.
• The first issue of The Stata Journal was released at the end of 2001.
• The last issue of the Stata Technical Bulletin (#61) was in May 2001.
From within Stata you can see what STB procedures are available and download the ones that
interest you. From the Help menu, select STB and User-written Programs . After that,
choose the hypertext links (clickable blue words in the help window) for the Stata site then then
click on stb
For a complete list of all STB articles, see http://www.stata.com/info/products/stb/stbvols.html
Useful Resources
The following links take you to external sites of interest:
• The Stata resources web page, includes links to free downloadable tutorial:
http://www.stata.com/links/resources1.html
• UCLA graphics page using Stata may be of interest:
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/Library/GraphExamples/default.htm
• Setting up docked windows (Great for learning to set up Stata 9 windows):
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/faq/stata9gui/dockfloatpin.html
• Princeton tutorial for learning Stata:
http://data.princeton.edu/stata/
• Princeton help notes for Stata:
http://dss.princeton.edu/online_help/stats_packages/stata/
• Working with Hilda data - PanelWhiz:
http://www.panelwhiz.eu
• Stata Programming:
http://www.stata.com/meeting/11uk/baum.pdf
Monthly Tips
Top
contract - the table

Stata's contract command is a very useful command that every Stata user should be aware
of.
The contract command reduces the Stata dataset to a number of variables; that you specify
and their frequencies. This may be what you wish to achieve. However, if you only wish to see
these in table form then using the Stata editor will achieve this with just a few additional
commands.
Example 1
sysuse auto, clear

bysort for mpg : gen index=1 if _n==1
bysort for mpg : gen freq=_N
edit for mpg freq if index==1
//Or reducing this further to:
sysuse auto, clear

bysort for mpg : gen freq=_N if _n==1
edit for mpg freq if !missing(freq)
The result:
Foreign mpg freq

Domestic 12 2
Domestic 14 5
Domestic 15 2
Domestic 16 4
Domestic 17 2
Domestic 18 7
Domestic 19 8
Domestic 20 3
Domestic 21 3
Domestic 22 5
Domestic 24 3
Domestic 25 1
Domestic 26 2
Domestic 28 2
Domestic 29 1
Domestic 30 1
Domestic 34 1
Foreign 14 1
Foreign 17 2
Foreign 18 2
Foreign 21 2
Foreign 23 3
Foreign 24 1
Foreign 25 4
Foreign 26 1
Foreign 28 1
Foreign 30 1
Foreign 31 1
Foreign 35 2
Foreign 41 1
The equivalent contract command:
contract mpg for
A twoway table can even by produced in the editor.
Example 2
sysuse auto, clear

set more off
bysort mpg for: gen freq=_N

separate freq, by(for)
bysort mpg (freq0): replace freq0=freq0[1]

bysort mpg (freq1): replace freq1=freq1[1]
bysort mpg : gen index1=1 if _n==1
rename freq0 domestic_cars

rename freq1 foreign_cars
edit mpg domestic_cars foreign_cars if index1==1
The result:
mpg domestic foreign

12 2
14 5 1
15 2
16 4
17 2 2
18 7 2
19 8
20 3
21 3 2
22 5
23 3
24 3 1
25 1 4
26 2 1
28 2 1
29 1
30 1 1
31 1
34 1
35 2
41 1
The equivalent table command:

tabulate mpg for
For further help:
help contract
help bysort
help edit
Top
The Stata cond() function

The condition function allow you to decide on the contents of a variable based on a criteria that
you specify.
From the online help ( help cond() ):
cond(x,a,b,c)
cond(x,a,b)
Description: returns a if x is true and nonmissing, b if x is false, and c if x is missing. returns a if c

is not specified and x evaluates to missing.
The following are some examples and comments.
Example 1: You wish to fill in a variable with 5 and where the variable a is greater than 5 then the
value of a
//generate data
clear
set obs 15
generate a=_n
generate b=cond(a>5,a,5)
list
Example 2: There are of course many other ways of doing this:
//(1)
generate c=5
replace c=a if a>5
list
//(2)
generate c1=(a>5)*a
replace c1=5 if a<6
list
//(3)
generate c2=5
replace c2=a if inrange(a,5,.)
list
//(4)
// This options while doing this in one line is not as easy to understand as
// that using the cond() function
gen c3=(a>5)*a + (a<=5)*5
list
//(5)
// This can also be done with the max() function eg.
generate c4=max(a,5)
list
Example 3
However where the variable a contains missing values the results from cond() are different from
max():
// generate data
clear
set obs 11
generate a=_n if _n<10
generate b=cond(a>5,a,5)
generate c=max(a,5) if !missing(a)
list
exit
Example 4
Using cond() is a spell checker
//generating the data

clear
input str10 a
"thsi "
"that "
"the"
"tree"
"these"
end
list
gen b=cond(trim(a)=="thsi","this",trim(a))
//The alternative is to use:

gen c=a
replace c="this" if trim(a)=="thsi"
list
exit
Example 5
Using cond() to categorise a variable into negative, zero and postive.

//generate the data
clear
input a
-2
-1
0
1
2
end
list
generate b=cond(a>=0, a!=0, -1)

list
//or using nested cond() functions
generate c= ///
cond(a>0, 1, /// greater than zero
cond(a==0, 0, /// equal to zero
cond(a<0, -1, . /// less than zero
)))
list
Example 6
An interesting way of dealing with missing values (as seen on Statalist)

generate avprice = (total - cond(missing(price), 0, price)) / cond(missing(price), n, n - 1)
Example 7
Another example seen on statalist. This time for dropping duplicates
quiet bysort hhid hhsize:gen dupobs=cond(_N==1,0,_n)

drop dupobs
// Probably a better way of dealing with this is:

quiet bysort hhid hhsize:keep if _n==1
Example 8
From the Stata press book: "An Introduction to Stata programming by Christopher F. Baum"
Section 3.3.2
generate netmarr2x=cond(marr/divr>2.0, 1, 2)
// The above is OK but could also be replaced with:

gen netmarr2x=(marr/divr<2.0)+1
Example 9
From the statalist
clear
set obs 10
generate x=_n if _n<8
list
generate z=cond(x>5,1,0,.)
list
// the above produces the correct values; as a missing value is always greater than
// any number in the variable. However
// you may wish to have missing where a value in a is missing.
// http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2008-02/msg01204.html
// This puts missing values in where they occur in the x variable
generate z1 = cond(missing(x), ., x > 5)
list
// An alternative to the above is to use the 2nd syntax of the cond() function. Note the 3rd term
// in the fucntion does nothing so instead of "." any number would have been OK.
generate z2=cond(x,x>5,.,.)
list
Example 10
The stata press book "Data Anlaysis using Stata by Ulrich Kohler and Frauke Kreuter" p460 Show
how the cond() function can be used provide a default title for a graph
local title = cond( `"`title'"' == `""', `"`varlist' by `by'", `"`title'"')
graph twoway connected `yvars' xhelp, title(`title') .….
For further help:
help cond()
Stata Journal Vol 5 No 3
Top
Combinations of variables
From time to time I'm asked how to write a program that used all combination of a subset of
variables in an estimation command.
There are many ways to approach this. This is one way.
This approach:
(1) Produces all combination in numbers
(2) Using value labels to attached the variabl name
(3) Decode to produce a variable in the dataset
I have used this approach because of the limited storage in macros.
program combin
syntax , NUMTot(integer) NUMPick(integer)
tempvar cat bbb q con con1

tempfile temf temf1
quiet {
save temf, replace //save the dataset currently in Stata
labels1 `numtot' //program
clear
numlist "1/`numtot'"
set obs `numtot'
foreach i of numlist `=r(numlist)' {

egen aì'=fill( 1/`numtot' )
}
//all permutations of the data

fillin a1-a`numtot'
egen `cat'=concat(a*), p(" ")
gen `bbb'=""
gen `q'=.
// all combinations of the data

forvalues i=1/`=_N' {
local b=`cat'[ì']
replace `bbb'="`: list sort b'" in ì'
local q1 : list uniq b

replace `q'=`:list sizeof q1' in ì'
}
//keep only the number of variables (items) required

local z=1
foreach i of varlist * {
if `z'>`numpick' {
drop ì'
}
local ++z
}
egen `con'=concat(*) , punct(" ")

generate `con1'="."
forvalues i=1/`=_N'{
local a "`=`con'[ì']'"
local aa :list dups a

replace `con1'= "àa'" in ì'
local aaa :list sort a

replace `con'= "àaa'" in ì'
}
drop if !missing(`con1')
duplicates drop `con', force
labels2 //program
save temf1, replace

merge 1:1 _n using temf, nogen
} //quiet
end
//store labels in do file
program labels1
args max_vars
describe, replace
keep name
keep in 1/`max_vars'
encode name, gen(name1)
label save name1 using filename , replace
end
//attaching value labels and decoding etc.
program labels2
do filename
label value a* name1
foreach i of varlist a* {
decode ì', gen(zì')
}
egen levels=concat(z*), punct(" ")
keep levels
end
input
numtot(#): this is the number of variables from which the "numpick" are taken out. The order of
the variables is important as mumtot start at the first variable in the current order
numpick(#): the number of variables out of numtot() you select
sysuse auto, clear

order make, last
combin, numtot(6) numpick(2)
forvalues i = 1/6 {
di "ì'"
regress turn `=levels[ì']'
estimates store aì'
}
estimates table a* , stats(r2)
exit
**The resulting variable that contains the combinations:

+-----------------+
| levels |
|-----------------|
1. | headroom mpg |
2. | headroom price |
3. | headroom rep78 |
4. | headroom trunk |
5. | headroom weight |
6. | mpg price |
7. | mpg rep78 |
8. | mpg trunk |
9. | mpg weight |
10. | price rep78 |
11. | price trunk |
12. | price weight |
13. | rep78 trunk |
14. | rep78 weight |
15. | trunk weight |
16. | |
For further help:

help program
help macro
help egen
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Determining the value of PI by simulation in Stata

Time for some fun with Stata! If you randomly generate an x and y value between 0 and 1 and
have these as scatter points, some x,y points will fall into a unit radius area and other outside of
this. The ratio of the number of points in the areas times 4 (4 quadrants) will give Pi. The more
points the more accurate the result.
Solving for pi yields: pi = 4 * (scatter points in quadrant area)/(scatter points in square area ie.
1*1 square)
the code of the above graph
clear
set obs 1000
gen x=runiform()
gen y=runiform()
gen height=sqrt(1 - (x)^2)
twoway (function y = sqrt(1 - (x)^2), ///

range(0 1) lwidth(thick) lcolor(red)) ///
(area height x , sort) ///
(scatter x y if y>height, mcolor(blue)) ///
(scatter x y if y<=height, mcolor(green)) ///
,aspect(1) legend(off)
The program that simulate calls:

clear all
set more off
program a, rclass //1
args n //2
set obs `n'
local z=0 //3

local zz=0 //3
forvalues i=1/100 { //4
local x=runiform()
local y=runiform()
local dis=sqrt(`x'*`x'+`y'*`y')
if `dis'<=1 local ++z //5
local ++zz
} //end loop
return scalar stuff=4*(`z')/`zz' //6

end
The simulate command that calls the above program "a"
simulate mean=r(stuff) , reps(10000): a 100 //7
summarize mean //the output should should be 3.415...
Notes:
1 - Program called by the simulate command. The program we called "a". Note class r ie returns
r values
2 - The args command. When we call the "a" program we also pass to the program the number
of observations required
The terms passed is mapped on the first term of args eg. n
3 - Defining local macros.
4 - forvalues loop command.
5 - if statement that increments local macro z.
6 - statement that defines a return value ie stuff.
For further help:
help return
help simulate
help macro
help runiform()
help summarize
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Using Mata to produce an Excel table

If you are producing table and wish to input these into an Excel spreadsheet you could use the
following.
The number of commands could have been reduced by using return results from preceding
commands or you can even turn this into a program.
sysuse auto, clear

cd c:/ // 1
capture erase Results.xls // 2
regress price weight length if foreign // 3

return list // 4
matrix list r(table) // 5
matrix a1=r(table) // 6
matrix list a1 // 7
regress price weight length if !foreign

matrix a0=r(table)
matrix list a0
mata // 8
b=xl()
b.create_book("Results","Sheet1") // 9
b.put_string(1,1,"Variable") // 10
b.put_string(1,2,"Coefficient-foreign=1")
b.put_string(1,3,"Coefficient-foreign=0")
b.put_string(2,1,"weight")
b.put_string(3,1,"length")
b.put_number(2,2,st_matrix("a1")[1,1]) // 11
b.put_number(3,2,st_matrix("a1")[1,2])
end // 12
display "{browse results.xls : results}" // 13
Notes:
1 - Change directory; this is where the excel file is to be saved to.
2 - Erasing any previous excel file saved with the same name in the folder.
3 - The regress command. The results of which we wish to table.
4 - Not required to run the above but lets us see what return results Stata produces for this
command.
5 - Not required to run the above but lets us see the results that Stata saves in the matrix.
6 - Save the Stata matrix called r(table) into a Stata matrix we will call a1.
7 - Not required to run the above but lets us see the contents of the matrix we have just saved.
8 - Starting Mata.
9 - Mata command to name the file in which we wish to save the results. We call this file
"Results".
10 - Mata command to put a name into a cell.
11 - Mata command to put a result; obtained from the Stata matrix "a1" into a cell. The cell being
row 2 and column 2 [2,2].
12 - End Mata.
13 - Hyperlink the name of the file.
For further help:
help return
help matrix
help mata
help help m5_intro
help help mf_xl
Top
Do Editor - Additional Toolbars

The Stata 13 do file editor allows you to add your own tool bars. Easy to do:
Right click on the tool bar section of the do file editor
Customize
Click on New button
Name your new tool bar
Then click on the Commands tab and select a command

Drag the command to your new tool bar and your ready to run.
Example of additional Tool bars on Do Editor
For further help:

help rename
help rename group
Top
Group renaming of variables

The rename command will be familiar to most Stata users eg.
rename var1 var2

which rename variable "var1" to "var2"
however, the group rename may have been over looked by some users. Detailed examples and
syntax can be found at:
help rename group
This extends the functionality of the rename command to include renaming groups of variable
names.
Example 1
Say that you have imported your data set and all the variable name come capitalised; you prefer
lower case.
The following can be done:
//using foreach to loop over the variables to make the change
foreach i of varlist * {
rename ì' lower(ì')
}
But the rename command makes this even easier eg.
rename * , lower
Some further examples
First generating some variables names
clear
forvalues i=1/15 {
gen var`=ì'^2' = missing()
}
save data, replace
Example 2
Add suffix to the variable names var1 to var100 (based on the current variable name order)
use data, clear
rename (var1-var100) =A
Example 3
example 2 but with the variable names in no particular order
use data, clear
order var225 var169
rename (var(#) var(##) var100) (var(#)A var(##)A var100A)
Example 4
Adding the string "four" to the variable name when ever the name contains the number "4"
use data, clear
rename (var*4*) (fourvar*4*)
Example 5
Swapping the prefix and suffix where they both contain a character.
use data, clear
rename * *A
rename ?ar#? ?[3]ar#[2]?[1]
Example 6
Swapping year to a suffix.

clear
input currentliabilities2000total currentliabilities2001total currentliabilities2002total
1 1 1
end
rename currentliabilities#total currentliabilitiestotal#
For further help:
help rename
help rename group
Top
Put your own font in Stata graphs

From the Statalist, Allan Reese 1/11/2013
Installation of new fonts may vary between operating systems. These instructions are for
Windows XP
A font can be obtained from: (http://www.fonts4free.net/.html).
The fount we are looking at today is from: (http://www.fonts4free.net/female-and-male-sym-

font.html).
Copy the font file to the disk file (temp directory suggested)
Extract file from zip file to a suitable directory
Go to the Control panel and click on font
The File>install new Font ..
The new font "Female and male symbols" has now been installed
To see a graph with the new font
//make up some data

set seed 1
clear
set obs 50
generate a=runiform()*1000
generate b=runiform()*10
generate s=runiform()<.5
label define sexlab 1 `"{fontface "Female and male symbols":M }"' 0 ///
`"{fontface "Female and male symbols":F }"'
label values s sexlab
scatter a b , ms(i) mlab(s) mlabpos(c) ///

mlabsize(*2) title( "Example" `"{fontface "Female and male symbols":M F}"')
For further help:

help smcl
Top
Getting to the function quickly
Stata has lots of functions. So many that at times you may need to look up the syntax. However,
accessing the online help for this is a bit tedious eg:
help functions
or the pulldown menu:

data>other utilities>calculator then pressing create and then functions
To speed up access a keyboard function key can be assigned to bring up this page.
To do this is:
global F4 "help functions; This global macro statement is put into your profile.do
************profile.do**************
global F4 "help functions;"
//other profile settings
***********************************
For further help:
help profile
or see
Previous tip on profile.do
Value Labels - using labels in an expression

The actual value can be used in an expression
Example
sysuse auto, clear

list if foreign==1
The above is fine if you know what the number means. This could be looked up with:
label list origin
A safer way of specifying this is:
sysuse auto, clear

list if foreign=="Domestic":origin
For further help:
help label
Also see Stata 13 Users Guide 13.10

or click here
Top
The Label command - save option

The save options allow the label definitions to be save to an do file. This can sebsequently be
imported into Stata, manipulated and output as a do file. The do file can then be executed;
labeling a variable in the data set.
In this examle we are using the label command with the save option.
//setting up the data for the example
clear
set more off
input a b
1 1
2 2
3 3
end
label define a 1 "take bus to work" 2 walk 3 bike

label define b 1 "drive alone" 2 "drive with 1 passenger" 3 "some times drive alone"
label list
label values a a
label values b b
list
//finished setting up the data set
label listeplace // (1)
type c:/label1.do // (2)
filefilter c:/label1.do c:/label2.do , from("`") to("") replace // (3)

filefilter c:/label2.do c:/label3.do , from("'") to("") replace
preserve // (4)
infile str100 (a b c d e f) using c:/label3.do, clear // (5)

list
replace d="9"+d if c=="b" // (6)

replace c="a" // (6)
replace f="" in 1 // (6)
replace e=char(34)+e+char(34) // (6)
egen t1=concat(a-f), punct(" ") // (7)
replace t1=subinword(t1,"modify", ",modify",1) // (6)
keep t1 // (8)
outfile using "c:/try.do", noquote replace wide // (9)
type c:/try.do
restore // (10)
decode a, gen(a1) // (11)

decode b, gen(b1)
stack a1 b1, into(c1) // (12)
type c:/try.do
do c:/try // (13)
label list
encode c1, gen(d1) label(a) // (14)

keep d1
list
list, nolab
Notes on the above:
(1) Using the label command with the save option.

(2) Using the type command to view what was save in the do file.
(3) Using filefilter to remove the single quote character from the do file.
(4) summarize writes a copy of the current data in Stata memory to the hard drive.
(5) Inputing the contents of the do file into Stata.
(6) Modifying the label definition as required.
(7) Using one of egen's many handy commands to concatenate the strings.
(8) Keep only the t1 variable.
(9) Output .
(10) Inputing the data previously temporarily stored on the hard drive into Stata.
(11) decode generates a new variable (a1) that contains the string values labels of the variable (a).
(12) combining the 2 variable with the stack command.
(13) execute the do file that now contains the label definitions so that it is part of the data set.
(14) encode the string variable using the label definition previously loaded.
For further help:

help label
help type
help filefilter
help filefilter
help egen
help infile
help outfile
help stack
help decode
help encode
Top
Breaking up dates
Sometimes a long time span may need to be broken up into years or months etc., because say a
particular year in the data is of interest or the dataset is otherwise too big (wide) for Stata.
In this examle we break up a time span into years.
Use the following:
clear
set more off
input /// //(1)

str30 date_in str30 date_out ward
"7/22/2009 22:59" "7/24/2011 10:12" 1
"7/22/2011 12:05" "8/25/2011 21:07" 2
"8/27/2011 10:46" "8/28/2017 19:45" 1
"8/28/2011 15:34" "8/28/2011 16:43" 2
"8/28/2011 23:24" "8/29/2011 13:43" 1
"8/27/2011 14:32" "8/28/2011 15:15" 2
"8/28/2011 09:43" "8/28/2011 17:49" 1
"8/28/2011 01:33" "8/28/2011 02:32" 2
"8/28/2011 04:43" "8/29/2011 05:53" 1
"8/31/2011 07:30" "8/31/2011 08:11" 2
end
l
generate double date_in2a=date(date_in,"MDY hm") // (2)

format date_in2 %td // (3)
summarize date_in2a // (4)
local mint=r(min) // (5)
generate double date_out2a=date(date_out,"MDY hm")

format date_out2 %td
summarize date_out2a
local maxt=r(max)
generate flag=0 //(6)
forvalues i= `=year(`mint')'/`=year(`maxt')' { //(7)
replace flag=inrange(ì', year(date_in2a),year(date_out2a)) //(8)
//start date
generate yì'_s1=date_in2a if flag & year(date_in2a)==ì' // (9)
replace yì'_s1=td("1Janì'") if flag & missing(yì'_s1) // (10)
//end data
generate yì'_f1=date_out2a if flag & year(date_out2a)==ì'
replace yì'_f1=td("31Decì'") if flag & missing(yì'_f1)
}
format y* %td
list
exit
Notes on the above:
(1) Using the input command to produce a data set.

(2) Converting the date in string format to elapsed time (a number) with the date() function eg. the
number of days from 1 Jan 1960.
(3) Formating the just created elasped date to make it easier to read for checking if the conversion
went correctly.
(4) Using the summarize command to get the earliest date. This is stored in the return scalar:
r(min) All the return value from the summarize command can be seen by typing return list.
(5) Storing the min value in a local macro.
(6) Generating a flag variable to indicate if a particular year is within the date span of the
observaion.
(7) Looping through all the years in the data.
(8) Making flag equal to 1 if the year is in range.
(9) If the date span for the observation contains the year in the looping index and this is the starting
date then put the starting date in the variable.
(10) If the starting date is earlier than the start of the year in the looping index put in the 1 Jan for
that year.
For further help:

help input
help summaraize
help generate
Top
Stata's separate command

(May 2013)
The separate command is useful for splitting up a variable into variables based on the levels of
another variable. These new variables can then be used to produce a graph.
Example. To produce the following graph:
Use the following:
sysuse auto, clear
separate weight , by(rep78)

twoway scatter weight1-weight5 mpg , name(a3) ytitle(Weight (lbs.))
For further help:

help separate
Getting Stata to automatically open a web page

(April 2013)
Sometimes there are Web pages that you would like to access every now and then. For example
Stata's forthcoming web page (you can sign up for email updates but writing a program is more
fun) or Stata blogs etc.
Below is a way that this might be done. You could turn this into a ado file or just put it into your
profile.do
The time interva1 (macro t), in days, is specified at comment 8 below.
clear mata
local a : sysdir PERSONAL //1

cd à'
mata: //2
if(!fileexists("mymatrix")){ //3
v=st_global("c(current_date)") //4
X=date(v,"DMY") //5
fh = fopen("mymatrix.myfile", "rw") //6

fputmatrix(fh, X)
fclose(fh)
}
fh = fopen("mymatrix.myfile", "rw") //7

X = fgetmatrix(fh)
fclose(fh)
st_local("date",strofreal(X))
end //end mata
local t=1 //interval //8
if `date'+`t'< date(c(current_date),"DMY") { //9

shell "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" ///
"http://www.stata-press.com/forthcoming/" //10
}
else {
display "No required to check web page" //11
}
exit
Note on the above:
(1) Extended macro saving the path of Stata's PERSONAL location in the local macro a.
PERSONAL is on Stata's adopath
(2) Using a Stata Mata matrix to store the date that a Web page was last accessed. You could store
the information in other forms but a Mata matrix seemed a handy way of doing this
(3) The first time that this is run there is no Mata file; so just checking if one needs to be created. If
not, jump into the loop
(4) Save the current date in a scalar matrix called v
(5) Convert current date to Stata elapsed time using the date() function
(6) Saving the Mata matrix to a file
(7) Reading the saved Mata file
(8) Save the interval (days) that you wish to display the web page. In this case every day
(9) If the duration that the web page was last accessed is greater then the specified interval and it
has not been accessed today then jump into loop
(10) The web page that you wish to see
(11) Comment indicating that program is working but is not required to access Web page
For further help:

help clear
help adopath
help extended_fcn
help mata
help comments
help macro
help date functions
Top
Adding to Stata and User written programs

(March 2013)
Sometimes official Stata's commands or downloaded user written commands may not supply all
the information that you require or the information may not be in the form that you require. One
way of addressing this is to write your own command that includes the additional feature.
For example the official Stata command levelsof only return the levels of variable specified.
Often the number of levels is also required. This is easily included in your own command, as
shown as follows:
program s_levelsof , rclass //(1)

levelsof `0' //(2)
local b: word count `r(levels)' //(3)
return scalar a=`b' //(4)

return local levels=r(levels)
end //(5)
The above program is run as follows:

sysuse auto, clear //(6)
s_levelsof mpg,local(z) //(7)
display "`z'"
return list
Note on the above:
(1) program command with a new name for the command. Never over write existing commands;
create a new name. A common prefix will allow you to easily identify the new command. The rclass
options is used where the program is required to return some values.
(2) The levelsof command with `0'. The macro `0' contains what was passed to the new command
eg. mpg,local(z)
(3) Using the macro extended function: word count , to count the nunber of levels
(4) The return value as a scalar
(5) end of the program
(6) Loading the Stata data set
(7) Calling the new program: s_levelsof
For further help:

help levelsof
help program
help extended_fcn
Top
Stata Editor - selecting columns

(February 2013)
Stata 12's do editor has many great feature including selecting columns. The following is an
example were this can be used.
Say you wish to clean up the following do file by putting all the /// into a column. You adjust each
triple forward slash individually but if there are many this would take time and be boring. Using
Stata's column select this is easier:
( /// is used for concatenating the next line )
Highlight the column of ///. Adjust the end /// so that it is the closest to the rhs. At the top lhs of the
column place place the cursor. Then on the keyboard simultaneously press the Ctrl and Alt keys,
then with the mouse select the column require.
At the top of the column drag the column to the left hand side. Then using the do editor pull down
menu: Edit>Find>Replace, tick the regular expression box and type in the show regular expression
and execute.
Then select the column of ///. (on the keyboard simultaneously press the Ctrl and Alt keys, then
with the mouse select the column require ) At the top of the column drag right to the required
position.
For further help:

findit regular expressions
help comments
Top
adoupdate
(January 2013)
The Stata command adoupdate is used to update user written packages obtained from ssc.
However, it may be the case that not all your user written packages have been obtained from ssc,
and hence will not be updated with adoupdate.
For example:
You have just read an article in the Stata Journal titled " Error–correction–based cointegration tests
for panel data" it sounds interesting so you download load the program using:
findit xtwest
The following comes up:
Search of official help files, FAQs, Examples, SJs, and STBs
SJ-8-2 st0146 . . Error-correction-based cointegration tests for panel data

(help xtwest if installed) . . . . . . . D. Persyn and J. Westerlund
Q2/08 SJ 8(2):232--241
implements the four error-correction-based panel
cointegration tests developed by Westerlund
You click on the hyperlink and it downloads (confirmed by ado dir or using the pull down menu:
Help>SJ and user written programs and then previously installed packages>list.
To get the version of this program you type which on the Stata command line.
. which xtwest
c:\ado\plus\x\xtwest.ado
*! xtwest 1.1 1Apr2008
*! Damiaan Persyn, LICOS centre for Development and Economic Performance www.econ.kuleuven.be/licos
*! Copyright Damiaan Persyn 2007-2008.
adoupdate does not update this because it was not loaded from ssc eg.
. adoupdate xtwest, update
(note: adoupdate updates user-written files; type -update- to check for updates to official Stata)
(no packages match "xtwest")
Now getting the package from ssc
. ssc install xtwest, replace

checking xtwest consistency and verifying not already installed...
the following files will be replaced:

c:\ado\plus\x\xtwest.hlp
installing into c:\ado\plus\...

installation complete.
. which xtwest
*! xtwest 1.5 1Jul2010
*! Damiaan Persyn, LICOS centre for Development and Economic Performance www.econ.kuleuven.be/licos
*! Copyright Damiaan Persyn 2007-2008.
Now the version number is 1.5 (previously 1.1). The later version includes some bug fixes.
Therefore care should be taken to see that the version of a user package is the one that you
require.
Other cases of adoupdate not updating user packages is where the author of a user written
package has this on their personal web page; not ssc. eg.
Spost
http://www.indiana.edu/~jslsoc/web_spost/sp_install.htm
some programs written by Eric Booth at:

https://sites.google.com/site/ericabooth/Home/software
and other..
In these cases you need to go to the authors site and down load the package as per the authors
instructions.
Top
Compress
(December 2012)
Stata's compress command can be used to achieve two thing:
1) More efficiently store your data in Stata memory

2) Reduce the variable width so that data for this variable can be seen in an efficient format
Often handy after inporting data from a spreadsheet where foot notes, comments in the variable
column can create a string length that is far in excess to that required.
An example
clear
input str200 country
"Note: the details for this are.."
1
2
end
edit
notes : TS country[1]
drop in 1
sleep 3000
compress
notes
Top
Reshaping long and attaching variable labels afterwards

(November 2012)
For small numbers of variables, reshaping long and attaching variable labels afterwards, can be
done by hand but with more than says 10 variable stubs this becomes boring, error prone and
time consuming; so it is advisable to automate this.
The following is an example of how this can be done. The code
//creating the data

clear
input y id x2007 x2008 x2009 z2007 z2008 z2009
18 1 12 16 18 20 21 19
10 2 11 17 17 33 32 19
12 3 10 10 22 19 17 18
end
l
// Labeling variables
foreach v of varlist x* z* {
label variable `v' "`=substr("`v'",1,1)' factor(`=substr("`v'",length("`v'")-3,4)')"
}
describe
save data, replace
//getting variable names and variable labels

describe, replace clear //1
generate var=regexs(1) if regexm(name,"([a-zA-Z]+)([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])") //2
levelsof var, local(stub) clean //3
drop if missing(var) //4
duplicates drop var, force //5
keep var varlab
save varinfo, replace
//the reshape
use data, clear
reshape long "`stub'", i(id) j(Year)
//attached the data to the dataset

merge 1:1 _n using varinfo, nogen //6
count if !missing(var)
foreach i of varlist * { //loops variables

forvalues i1=1/`=r(N)' { //loops observations
if "ì'"=="`=var[ì1']'" { //7
label var ì' "`=varlab[ì1']'" //8
}
}
}
drop varlab var
describe
list
exit
Going through the above code:
"//getting variable names and variable labels"
The lines of code under this title get the variable stubs and their associated labels.
1 Using the replace and clear options of the describe command the variable names and labels
replace the existing data in Stata.
2 generate a new variable that contains the variable stubs
3 get a list of stubs; these are saved in a local macro
4 drop observations where var is missing
5 As only one of each stub is required the duplicates command is used to remove duplicates
6 merge the variable name and label with the data set
7 Check to see if variable name in the dataset is the same as merged data variable name
8 If the same the variable label "varlab" is given the label for this variable
Top
Graph marker labels

(October 2012)
Graph marker labels will frequently overlap on graphs; making them difficult to read. One solution
to prevent/minimise this is to write an algorithm that reduces this to a minium. However, this is a
significant amount of work. An alternative is to separate them based on a qreg and then angle
the labels based on the distance from the adjacent markers.
The following is a graph with markers as Stata presents them.
The following is a graph where we start with a specific observation, in this case observation one
of the sort order that Stata supplies, then determine the closest adjacent observation, then this
observation is used to determine the next closest observations etc.
Then a qreg is used at split the data; the quantile options filled in with a value determined by the
user.
From there we select the number options: anglular rotations of the label, the starting angle and
the angle of rotation.
These are aculmulated and finally the graph drawn.
The code
clear all
sysuse auto, clear
generate order=.
generate index= _n
//scale
summarize mpg
local a1_max=r(max)
local a1_min=r(min)
local a1_diff=à1_max'-à1_min'
summarize weight
local a2_max=r(max)
local a2_min=r(min)
local a2_diff=à2_max'-à2_min'
generate dis_hor=.
generate dis_vert=.
generate hyp=.
generate kk=.
local z=1
forvalues i=1/74 {
if `z'==1 {
replace order=1 in 1
local z=0
}
else {
gsort -order
replace dis_hor=(mpg[1]-mpg)/à1_diff'
replace dis_vert=(weight[1]-weight)/à2_diff'
replace hyp=sqrt(dis_hor^2 +dis_vert^2)
sort hyp
replace kk=sum(missing(order))
replace kk=. if !missing(order)
replace order=ì' if kk==1
}
}
qreg mpg weight, quantile(50) //quantile can be changed
predict a
generate up_down= a < mpg
tab up_down
bysort up_down order: gen order1=_n
//values to change
local angle =10
local s_ang=55
local no_ang= 3
bysort up_down (order1):gen aa=mod(_n,`=`no_ang'+1')
//normal marker labels

scatter mpg weight , mlab(make) mlabangle(45) yline(22) xline(2930) name(kk1)
local z=0
forvalues i=0/`=`no_ang'' {
if `z'==0 {
local aa2 =`"(scatter mpg weight if aa==ì' & up_down==0 , mlabcolor(blue) "' + ///
`" mlab(make) mlabpos(3) mlabangle(`=-`s_ang'-àngle'*ì'') ) "' + ///
`"(scatter mpg weight if aa==ì' & up_down==1 , mlab(make) mlabcolor(red) "' + ///
`" mlabpos(3) mlabangle(`=`s_ang'+(àngle'*ì')') ) "'
local z=1
}
else {
local aa1= `" (scatter mpg weight if aa==ì' & up_down==0, mlabcolor(blue) "' + ///
`" mlab(make) mlabpos(3) mlabangle(`=-`s_ang'-àngle'*ì'') ) "' + ///
`"(scatter mpg weight if aa==ì' & up_down==1, mlab(make) mlabcolor(red) "' + ///
`"mlabpos(3) mlabangle(`=`s_ang'+àngle'*ì'') )"'
}
local aa2 àa2' àa1'
}
twoway ///
àa2' , ///
yline(22) xline(2930) name(kk2) legend(off)
exit
Gathering prefixes for the reshape command

(August 2012)
Stata's reshape command requires the prefixes of variables to be stated. If there are many
variables to be reshaped, then rather than type in their prefixes , let Stata do the work.
First generate a pretend data set. In reality there will be many more variables
clear
input /// //1

id a2001 a2002 a2003 b2001 b2002 b2003 c2001 c2002 c2003
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
end
list
preserve //2
describe, replace clear //3
generate prefix=regexs(1) if ///

regexm(trim(name), "([A-Za-z]+)([0-9]+$)") //4
contract prefix, nomiss //5
local a //6
forvalues i=1/`=_N' { //7
local a à' `=prefix[ì']' //8
}
restore //9
reshape long à', i(id) j(item) //10
list
exit
Going through the above:
(1) The Stata command input is useful for inputting a small data set.
(2) The Stata command preserve is used here because the existing data will be cleared and a
copy of the data is required. perserve copies the current data to the computer hard drive.
(3) The Stata command describe ;one of the options of describe is replace ie replacing the
existing data with the contents of the describe command. The command is used to get a list of
variable names.
(4) The Stata functions regexs and regexm are regular expression functions and are used to
generate a new variable containing the variable prefixes. For more informatrion see our
previous tip on regular expression at: November 2010
(5) The Stata command contract contacts a data set to a set of values and frequencies; similar to
a oneway frequency table. This command is used to remove duplicates from the data. An
alternative to this command is duplicates but in this case contract is easier to user.
(6) local initializes the value of the local macro, which we have called a. This will be used later to
accumulate variable prefixes.
(7) The Stata command forvalues is a loop command which goes through all the variable prefixes
in the data.
(8) Using the local macro a prefixes are accumulated.
(9) The Stata command restore replace the data currently in Stata with the data set previously
saved by the preserve command.
(10) The Stata command reshape is used to change the data format from wide to long. The
reshape command uses the prefixes stored in macro a.
For help on specific commands type:

help
and then the specific command eg.
help imput
help list
help preserve
help forvalues
help describe
help macro
Top
Fuzzy merge - base on time - an alternative

(July 2012)
Refering to last months fuzzy merge tip, the Stata commands tsset and tsfill were used to get all
possible times. Sometimes the number of observations can exceed Stata's limit. When this
happens an alternative method is to append the 2 datasets and then determine which events are
to be treated as the same event.
cd c:/ //(1)
clear
input time //(2)

1
7
10
11
15
16
21
25
30
end
generate date1=1 //(3)

generate stuff=runiform() //(4)
save date1, replace
clear
input time //(5)
8
19
30
end

save date2, replace
append using date1 //(7)

duplicates tag time, gen(same) //(8)
drop if same==1 & date2==1 //(9)
merge 1:1 time using date2 //(10)
sort time
list //(11)
drop if missing(date1)& missing(date2) //(12)
generate min=cond(time[_n+1]-time>time-time[_n-1], /// //(13)

-1*(time-time[_n-1]), /// //(13)
time[_n+1]-time ) if date2==1 //(13)
list
replace stuff=stuff[_n+sign(min)*1] if !missing(min)& abs(min)<=2 //(14)

replace date1=date1[_n+sign(min)*1] if !missing(min)& abs(min)<=2
drop if (min[_n+1]<0 & abs(min[_n+1])<=2 ) | (min[_n-1]>0 & abs(min[_n-1])<=2 ) //(15)

drop min _merge
egen total_matches=rowtotal( date2 same) //(16)
order time stuff date1 date2 same total_matches //(17)
list
exit
(1) The Stata command cd changes the working directory to that specified eg. c:/
(2) The Stata command input is useful for inputting a small data set. In merge jargon the data set
created here is called the "using" data set; because it is called into Stata by the merge
command.
(3) Creates a variable to indicate the "using" data set.
Creates a variable containing random values which range from 0 to 1. The function
(4)
runiform() does this. This is done to create some "play" data.
(5) Inputting the second data set. This is the data set that is in Stata's memory when we merge.
In merge jargon this is called the "master".
(6) Create a variable that identifies this data set.
(7) Joins the 2 data sets vertically together; matching variable names.
(8) Using Stata's duplicate command and the tag option generates a new variable called same.
This indicates where both data set match on the specified variable(s).
Where the time match perfectly only one observation is required therfore the duplicate
(9)
observation is dropped.
Merge the data based on a one to one (1:1) relationship (1:1 meaning only 1 observation from
(10) the using data set and one observation from the master data set allowed) between the key
variable (time) in the using and master data sets
(11) list the data to see if it looks as expected.
(12) drops the observation if both data1 and data2 are missing
(13) generates an indicator variable that tells us what is the closest observation in terms of time. A
negative sign indicates if this is before the merge and a positve sign indicates after the merge.
To do this the cond() function is used. The first term in the brackets ie time[_n+1]-time>time-
time[_n-1] evaluates to either true of false. If true, the second term is used ie -1*(time-
time[_n-1]) if false the third term is used ie time[_n+1]-time ) the 2nd or 3rd terms are only
generated on the observations were date2 equals 1 ie date2==1
Terms like time[_n+1] make Stata work at the observation level. Observations to be used are
defined by the contents of the square brackets. The variable outside of the square brackets is
the variable name whose observations we are using. Inside the square brackets _n is the
current observation hence the term _n+1 is the current observation plus 1 (one).
(14) Replaces the contents of stuff with stuff[_n+sign(min)*1] only if the expression
!missing(min)& abs(min)<=2 is true. In other word if the time between the merge
observation and the next closest time is less than or equal to 2 the merge observation is filled
in with this value.
(15) Lastly the observation that comes closest to the merge is deleted. Because this can be above
or below the merge observation 2 conditions are specified separated by an OR symbol ie |
(16) Creates an indicator variable total_matches using the egen command that indicates where
the data now matches
(17)
change the order of the variables to make for easier reading/checking

help
help imput
help list
help merge
help drop
help replace
Top
Fuzzy merge - base on time

(June 2012)
Merging 2 data sets in Stata on a key variable requires the key variable to match exactly.
However if the key variable is time, small discrepancies (milli seconds) will result in a non-match
even if the 2 observations relate to the same event. To merge data sets like this, a range of time
can be used for a match. In this example we will specify a time range + and - for an acceptable
match to occur.
cd c:/ //(1)
clear
input time //(2)

1
7
10
11
15
16
21
25
30
end

generate stuff=runiform() //(4)
tsset time //(5)

tsfill, full //(6)
save date1, replace
clear
input time //(7)
8
19
30
end
merge 1:1 time using date1 //(9)
sort time
list //(10)
drop if missing(date1)& missing(date2) //(11)
generate min=cond(time[_n+1]-time>time-time[_n-1], /// //(12)

-1*(time-time[_n-1]), /// //(12)
time[_n+1]-time ) if date2==1 //(12)
list
replace stuff=stuff[_n+sign(min)*1] if !missing(min)& abs(min)<=2 //(13)

replace date1=date1[_n+sign(min)*1] if !missing(min)& abs(min)<=2
drop if (min[_n+1]<0 & abs(min[_n+1])<=2 ) | (min[_n-1]>0 & abs(min[_n-1])<=2 ) //(14)

drop min _merge
list
exit
(1) The Stata command cd changes the working directory to that specified eg. c:/
The Stata commandinput is useful for inputting a small data set. In merge jargon the data set
(2) created here is called the "using" data set; because it is called into Stata by the merge
command.
(3) Creates a variable to indicate the "using" data set.
Creates a variable containing random values from 0 to 1. The function runiform() does this.
(4)
This is done to create some "play" data.
tsset is Stata's command that sets the data for time series. In this case we set the variable
(5) "time" as the variable that contains time for time series. The only reason we tsset the data is
so that we can use the next command ie tsfill
(6) tsfill is Stata's time series command that fills gaps in the time variable
Inputting the second data set. This is the data set that is in Stata's memory when we merge.
(7)
In merge jargon this is called the "master".
(8) Create a variable that identifies this data set.
merge the data based on a one to one (1:1) relationship between the key variable (time) in the
(9)
using and master data sets
(10) list the data to see if it looks as expected
(11) drops the observation if both data1 and data2 are missing
(12) generates an indicator variable that tells us what is the closest observation in terms of time. A
negative sign indicates if this is before the merge and a positve sign indicates after the merge.
To do this the cond() function is used. The first term in the brackets ie time[_n+1]-time>time-
time[_n-1] evaluates to either true of false. If true, the second term is used ie -1*(time-
time[_n-1]) if false the third term is used ie time[_n+1]-time ) the 2nd or 3rd terms are only
generated on the observations were date2 equals 1 ie date2==1
Terms like time[_n+1] make Stata work at the observation level. Observations to be used are
defined by the contents of the square brackets. The variable outside of the square brackets is
the variable name whose observations we are using. Inside the square brackets _n is the
current observation hence the term _n+1 is the current observation plus 1 (one).
(13) Replaces the contents of stuff with stuff[_n+sign(min)*1] only if the expression
!missing(min)& abs(min)<=2 is true. In other word if the time between the merge
observation and the next closest time is less than or equal to 2 the merge observation is filled
in with this value.
(14) Lastly the observation that comes closest to the merge is deleted. Because this can be above
or below the merge observation 2 conditions are specified separated by an OR symbol ie |

help
help imput
help list
help merge
help drop
help replace
Top
Getting the data right for Stata's Excel command

(May 2012)
With the release of Stata 12 the loading of Excel spreadsheets became even easier (see
previous tip - here ).
However, the loading of a spreadsheet may not always go as planned/hoped. The following
problems can occur:
(1) Stata will not load the variable names in the first row because some of these do not
correspond to Stata's variable name convention
(2) Variables comes in as a string when it should be numeric due to:

(a) empty cells (not Stata's missing symbol ie .) in some of the spreadsheet
(b) non-numeric characters in the variable.
Example:
It is good practice to do all the fix up work in a Stata do file; rather then doing repairs on the
spreadsheet.
Addressing problem 1
import excel "C:\excel.xls", sheet("Sheet1") clear
foreach i of varlist A-D {

capture confirm number `=ì'[1]'
if _rc==0{
rename ì' Y`=ì'[1]'
}
else rename ì' `=ì'[1]'
}
drop in 1
The above imports the spreadsheet and renames the problem variables. The command confirm
number determines if the first row of the data set is a number or a string. capture in front of the
confirm command "captures" if the confirm statement is true or false, hence giving the return code
of the capture ( _rc)command a value of 7 if a string or 0 if a number. The return code is then used
to determine how the variable name is to be renamed.
Having a closer look at: `=ì'[1]'
ì' is the macro substitution of the looping index i. In this case the variable name
[1] when put adjacent to a variable name (without a space) the bracketed number indicates the
observation number. In this case the first time around the loop it would equal the first observation of
variable A. This is know as explicit subscripting.
`= ' the symbols around ì'[1] are to tell Stata to evaluate the expression see: Stata 12 Users Guide
18.3.8 page 201
foreach i of varlist Y* {
capture confirm numeric variable ì'
if _rc!=0 {
replace ì'="." if ì'==""
destring ì', replace
}
}
describe
The above once again uses the confirm command but this time with the variable option. Each
variable with a Y prefix (the character that was previously included) is put through a loop where
firstly empty cells are filled in with the Stata missing values and then the string variable is changed
to a numeric variable with the destring command.
If the output of the descibecommand indicates that the variable is still a string then this may be due
to a non-numeric characters in the variable. One way of looking for the observation that contains
this is:
forvalues i=1/`=_N' {
capture confirm number `=Y2001[ì']'
if _rc!=0 {
display "Potential problem observation: "ì'
}
}
The output to the above indicates a problem with observations 1 and 2 of the Y2001 variable.
Another option for finding problem observation is to use hexdump.

help
help capture
help confirm
help forvalues
help foreach
help destring
help rename
help drop
Top
Using Stata's file command
(April 2012)
Stata's file command can be useful for:
(1) cleaning up data before importing it into Stata
(2) handling a text variable where the text exceeds 244 characters and only a portion of the data
is required to be imported.
An example of doing No 2 is below:
An example of the text file; assume that the text is longer than 244 characters (Stata's max.
string length) The data can be created in a text editor eg. Stata's do editor and saved as with a
.txt extension.
"c:/file_try.txt"
one:two:three:four
one1:two1
For this example assume that we require only the last 2 words in a new file (the words are
delimited with a ":")
An example of a Stata program that will create a new file with only the last 2 words of each line
is:
program ltype //(1)

version 12.1
syntax , Current(string) New(string) P(string) //(2)

tempname fh hdl //(3)
file open `fh' using `"`current'"', read //(4)

file open `hdl' using `"`new'"', replace write text //(5)
file read `fh' line //(6)
while r(eof)==0 { //(7)
local kk=reverse("`line'") //(8)
tokenize `kk',p("`p'") //(9)
local No1 "`=reverse("`1'")'" //(10)
local No3 "`=reverse("`3'")'" //(10)
file write `hdl' %st10 ("`No1'") %st10 (":") %st10 ("`No3'") _new
file read `fh' line
}
file close _all
end
(1) program The start of the program starts with program and a name of the program: ltype. The
program finishes with end.
(2) syntax command, passes information to the program via local macros ie. current is the macro
name containing the file name of the initial file (raw data). new is the name of the local macro that
contains the file name for the information obtained by the program (last 2 words of line). p is the
local macro name of the delimiter.
(3) Creating tempory names
(4) Opening the file with the initial information
(5) Opening a file for the required data to be entered
(6) Read the first line of the file and store this in the local macro line
(7) While loop; continues until end of file is reached
(8) Reverse the order of the contents of the line macro so the last word becomes the first
(9) tokenize the line based on the parse character : ; break string into local macro's with names:
1,2 etc.
(10) make the contents of the local macro's No1 and No3 the reverse of the last and 2nd last
words (: is treated as a word)
(11) writes macro contents to the new file separating then with ":"
(12) read new line of file
(13) closes both files
Then the above program can be run with the following:
type "c:/file_try.txt"
ltype ,current("c:/file_try.txt") new( "c:/file_try1.txt") p(":")
type "c:/file_try1.txt"
infile str10 a using "c:/file_try1.txt", clear //loading file into Stata
list
Top
Cleaning data - consistent naming - using soundex()

(March 2012)
There are 2 ways that data can be cleaned in Stata: manually or using a rule based system.
Below is one way that messy data can be cleaned with the assistance of Stata's soundex()
function and some manually cleaning.
//creating the data for this example
clear
input str20 w1
"Microsoft"
"MicroSoft"
"Micro Soft"
"Micro-Soft"
"Microsoft Inc."
"Microsoft Inc"
"MicrosoftInc"
"MicrosoftAA"
"Microaa"
"MSFT"
"MS"
"M$"
"STATA"
"StataCorp"
"StataCorp LP"
"staCorp"
"Linux"
"linux"
end
list, clean noobs
save c:/a, replace
generate kk=soundex(w1) // <--1

generate New_w1=""
//Linux
foreach i in L520 { // <--2
replace New_w1="Linux" if kk=="ì'" // <--3
}
//Microsoft
foreach i in M262 M000 M200 M213 {
replace New_w1="Microsoft" if kk=="ì'"
}
//Stata
foreach i in S330 S326 S332 {
replace New_w1="StataCorp" if kk=="ì'"
}
replace New_w1="Micro AA" if kk=="M260"
sort kk
list, sepby(New_w1)
exit
(1) soundex() The soundex code consists of a letter followed by three numbers: the letter is the
first letter of the name and the numbers encode the remaining consonants. Similar sounding
consonants are encoded by the same number.
(2) Stata loop for each of the soundex code(s)
(3)replace command that replace existing contents with the name that mapps to the soundex code.
The resulting data set
+-----------------------------------+
| w1 kk New_w1 |
|-----------------------------------|
1. | Linux L520 Linux |
2. | linux L520 Linux |
|-----------------------------------|
3. | M$ M000 Microsoft |
4. | MS M200 Microsoft |
5. | MSFT M213 Microsoft |
|-----------------------------------|
6. | Microaa M260 Micro AA |
|-----------------------------------|
7. | Micro Soft M262 Microsoft |
8. | Micro-Soft M262 Microsoft |
9. | Microsoft Inc. M262 Microsoft |
10. | MicroSoft M262 Microsoft |
11. | MicrosoftInc M262 Microsoft |
12. | MicrosoftAA M262 Microsoft |
13. | Microsoft M262 Microsoft |
14. | Microsoft Inc M262 Microsoft |
|-----------------------------------|
15. | staCorp S326 StataCorp |
16. | STATA S330 StataCorp |
17. | StataCorp LP S332 StataCorp |
18. | StataCorp S332 StataCorp |
+-----------------------------------+
help
help soundex()
help generate
help replace
help use
Top
Cleaning data - consistent naming - manually

(February 2012)
There are 2 ways that data can be cleaned in Stata: manually or using a rule based system.
Below is one way that messy data can be cleaned manually so that names are consistent.
//creating the data for this example
clear
input str20 w1
"Microsoft"
"MicroSoft"
"Micro Soft"
"Micro-Soft"
"Microsoft Inc."
"Microsoft Inc"
"MicrosoftInc"
"MSFT"
"MS"
"M$"
"STATA"
"StataCorp"
"StataCorp LP"
"staCorp"
"Linux"
"linux"
end
list, clean noobs
save c:/a, replace
contract w1 //-->1
edit //-->2
//get by hand all the different forms of the one name.

// In this case variations on Microsoft
clear
input str20 w1
"Microsoft"
"MicroSoft"
"Micro Soft"
"Micro-Soft"
"Microsoft Inc."
"Microsoft Inc"
"MicrosoftInc"
"MSFT"
"MS"
"M$"
end
generate x2="1" //-->3
save c:/a1, replace
//merging and replacing with the correct name

use c:/a, clear //-->4
merge 1:m w1 using c:/a1 , nogenerate //-->5
replace x2="Microsoft" if x2=="1" //-->6
save c:/a, replace
contract w1 if x2==""
edit
//get by hand all the different forms of the one name.

// In this case variations on Stata
clear
input str20 w1
"STATA"
"StataCorp"
"StataCorp LP"
"staCorp"
end
generate x3="1"
save c:/a1, replace
//merging
use c:/a, clear
merge 1:m w1 using c:/a1, nogenerate
replace x2="Stata" if x3=="1"
drop x3
//Etc until all the names are consistent
(1) contract the dataset to a list of names and frequencies
(2) open the Stata editor so that the various names can be copied. If a large list and the required
names are spread throughout the list a new variable can be created and a 1(one) put in, adjacent
to the names. The variable with the 1's can be sorted and then the variations on the required name
can be copied into the do file.
(3)generate a new variable to be used after the merge command that indicates the names to be
changed
(4) Load original dataset (5) Merge the original dataset with the list of names dataset (6) Replace
the "1" in the previously generated variable (3) to the official name "Microsoft"
Repeat the process again until all names are as required.

help
help contract
help generate
help merge
help use
help edit
Top
Working with Dates 3

(January 2012)
A problem that comes up from time to time is where you have clustered dates eg. going to the
doctor for treatment and subsequent follow up(s). You may wish to group each issue (intial
treatment and follow up into a group). Without detailed records as to the ailment treated on which
date you can attempt to do this by making an assumption as to how long the treatment is likely to
last. For example you may have the following data:
Assume that each treatment and follow up is no longer than 30 days.
clear
set more off
input ///
str6 id str20 date
01003 07Nov2008
01003 07Nov2008
01003 11Nov2008
01007 22Dec2008
01007 05Dec2008
01007 13Nov2007
01007 14Nov2007
01007 22Jul2006
01007 22Jul2006
01007 22Jul2006
01007 11Sep2006
01009 13Oct2005
01009 17May2006
01009 17May2006
01009 13Jan2010
01009 06Jun2010
01008 08Nov2007
01008 08Nov2007
01008 08Nov2007
01008 15Jul2009
01008 15Jul2009
01008 15Jul2009
01008 27May2010
01008 28May2010
01008 28May2010
01008 28May2010
end
l
generate date1=date(date, "DMY") //1

generate cluster=. //2
list, sepby(id)
tempvar max //3

bysort id (date1): gen `max'=_N //4
summarize `max' //5
forvalues i=1/`r(max)' { //6

bysort id (date1): replace cluster=ì' if /// //7
date1<=(date1[sum(cluster!=.)+1]+30) & cluster==.
list, sepby(id) // list command to show what is happening
// can be removed
}
list, sepby(id)
exit
(1) generate a new variable (date1) that takes the date in string format from date and converts this
into elasped time (a numeric value)
(2) generate a new variable called cluster; all values equal to missing (.)
(3) Assigns name to temparory variable max
(4) Using the bysort prefix, by every level of id the values of the temporary variable max is
generated and filled with values of _N. Note macro subsittion single brackets around the temporary
variable name. _N stands for the max number of observations. In this case, because of bysort, it is
the max number of observation for each level of id.
(5) The summarize command is used to obtain the max number of obseravations in all the levels
of max. The summarize command has a handy return value that stores this eg. r(max). To see the
other values returned by this command type: return list (after the summarize command)
(6) looping over the code in the curly brackets using forvalues loop
(7) using the bysort command replace the value of cluster with the looping index value (this will be
the group number) if the qualifer is true ie. the start of the next cluster and within 30 days of the
start of the new cluster.
Breaking the qualifer down: date1<=(date1[sum(cluster!=.)+1]+30) & cluster==.

cluster!=. logical statement either true of false ie if cluster does not equal (!=) a missing value (.)
the observation is true and equals 1 (one)
sum(cluster!=.) : sums the results of cluster!=.
+1: add 1 (one) to the result of the sum(cluster!=.)

date1[sum(cluster!=.)+1]:inside the square brackets (explicit subscripting) Stata has calculated
the observation number of date1 that we require eg. data1[obs no]. Stata gets the data for the
variable date1 (a date) and adds 30 days to this. Stata then tests if the current observation of date1
is <= to the value calculated by date1[sum(cluster!=.)+1]+30) and also that the current value of
cluster if missing (.). If the statement is true the looping index value (ì') replace the current value
for observation of cluster.

help
help input
help generate
help summarize
(the saved results from the summarize command can be seen be typing: return list after the
summarize command
help macro
help forvalues
help sum()
help tempvar
help list
Top
Working with Dates 2

(December 2011)
A problem that comes up from time to time is where, say hospital wards (could also be hospital
beds, cars, hotel rooms,
machines etc.) are used for a patient of minutes/hours/days and management wishes to know at
the end
of the month how many minutes each ward is used for.
An example:
clear
input ///
str30 date_in str30 date_out ward
"7/22/2011 22:59" "7/27/2011 10:12" 1
"8/27/2011 12:05" "8/27/2011 21:07" 2
"8/27/2011 10:46" "8/28/2011 19:45" 1
"8/28/2011 15:34" "8/28/2011 16:43" 2
"8/28/2011 23:24" "8/29/2011 13:43" 1
"8/27/2011 14:32" "8/28/2011 15:15" 2
"8/28/2011 09:43" "8/28/2011 17:49" 1
"8/28/2011 01:33" "8/28/2011 02:32" 2
"8/28/2011 04:43" "8/29/2011 05:53" 1
"8/31/2011 07:30" "8/31/2011 08:11" 2
end
list
set more off
split date_in, gen(kk) // (1)

split date_out, gen(zz)
generate double date_in2=date(date_in,"MDY hm") // (2)

format date_in2 %td
generate double date_out2=date(date_out,"MDY hm")

format date_out2 %td
summarize date_in2 // (3)

local d1=r(min) // (3)
summarize date_out2 // (3)

local d2=r(max) // (3)
local range=`d2'-`d1' // (4)
forvalues i=0/`range' { // (5)

local kk=`d1'+ì' // (6)
generate datea`kk'=1 if inrange(`d1'+ì', date_in2,date_out2) // (7)
label var datea`kk' `="`=day(`d1'+ì')'"+ "_"+ /// // (8)

"`=month(`d1'+ì')'"+ "_"+"`=year(`d1'+ì')'"'
}
generate id=_n // (9)

reshape long datea, i(id) j(datekk) string // (10)
bysort id:gen double datea1=sum(datea) if !missing(datea)

bysort id:replace datea=sum(datea) if !missing(datea)
levelsof id, local(id1)
foreach i of local id1 {

summarize datea if id==ì'
replace datea1=24*60 if datea!=`r(min)' & datea!=`r(max)' ///
& id==ì' & !missing(datea)
replace datea1=24*60-(clock(kk2,"hm")/(1000*60)) if ///

datea==`r(min)' & id==ì' & !missing(datea)
replace datea1=clock(zz2,"hm")/(1000*60) if ///

datea==`r(max)' & id==ì' & !missing(datea)
//enter and discharge the same day

replace datea1=(clock(zz2,"hm")-clock(kk2,"hm"))/(1000*60) if ///
datea==`r(max)' & datea==`r(min)' & id==ì' & !missing(datea)
}
collapse (sum) datea1, by(ward datekk) // (11)

destring datekk, gen(date) // (12)
format date %td
rename datea1 time // (13)

label var time "time in minutes" // (14)
list, sepby(ward) // (15)
(1) Split string dates into day and time

(2) Date/time; input as strings are converted to elasped time (numbers of milliseconds from a
datum). (3) The minimum and maximum dates are obtained with the summarize command
and saved in local macros.
(4) The range is calculated and saved in a local macro.
(5) Using the forvalues command the days of the range are looped through.
(6) The date, in elasped days is calculated.
(7) A new variable for each day is calculated and 1 included in the observation where
the loop date is in the range indicated by the inrange() function.
(8) The newly created variable is give a label; which is the loop date.
(9) Generate a unique id value to be used by the reshape command.
(10) Reshape the data from wide to long data format.
(11) Collapse the data to give the required results.

(12) Use the destring command to convert a string variable to a numeric variable.
(13) Rename variable.
(14) Include a variable label.
(15) Finally, list the results.

help
help input
help generate
help summarize
summarize command
help macro
help forvalues
help collapse
help destring
help rename
help label
help list
Top
Working with Dates

(November 2011)
A problem that comes up from time to time is where, say hotel rooms (could also be hospital
beds, cars,
machines etc.) are booked for a number of days by the one person and management wishes to
know at the end
of the month how many rooms for each day were occupied.
An example:
clear
set more off
input ///
str30 date_in str30 date_out
"7/22/2011" "8/27/2011"
"8/27/2011" "8/27/2011"
"8/27/2011" "8/28/2011"
"8/28/2011" "8/28/2011"
"8/28/2011" "8/29/2011"
"8/27/2011" "8/28/2011"
"8/28/2011" "8/28/2011"
"8/28/2011" "8/28/2011"
"8/28/2011" "8/29/2011"
"8/31/2011" "8/31/2011"
"8/31/2011" "8/31/2011"
"8/31/2011" "9/4/2011"
"8/23/2011" "8/23/2011"
"8/23/2011" "8/24/2011"
"8/24/2011" "9/15/2011"
"8/4/2011" "8/4/2011"
"8/4/2011" "8/8/2011"
"8/10/2011" "8/10/2011"
"8/10/2011" "8/17/2011"
end
list
generate date_in1=date(date_in,"MDY") // see (1) below

generate date_out1=date(date_out,"MDY") // (1)
format date_in1 date_out1 %td // (2)
summarize date_in1 // (3)

local d1=r(min) // (3)
summarize date_out1 // (3)

local d2=r(max) // (3)
local range=`d2'-`d1' // (4)
forvalues i=0/`range' { // (5)

local kk=`d1'+ì' // (6)
gen datea`kk'=1 if inrange(`d1'+ì', date_in1,date_out1) // (7)
label var datea`kk' `="`=day(`d1'+ì')'"+ "_"+ /// // (8)

"`=month(`d1'+ì')'"+ "_"+"`=year(`d1'+ì')'"'
}
generate id=_n // (9)

reshape long datea, i(id) j(datekk) string // (10)
collapse (sum) datea, by(datekk) // (11)

destring datekk, replace // (12)
format datekk %td
rename datea rooms_oc // (13)
label var rooms_oc "rooms occupied" // (14)
list, sep(0) // (15)
(1) Dates; input as strings are converted to elasped time (numbers of days from a datum).
(2) Dates are formated.
(3) The minimum and maximum dates are obtained with the summarize command
and saved in local macros.
(4) The range is calculated and saved in a local macro.
(5) Using the forvalues command the days of the range are looped through.
(6) The date, in elasped days is calculated.
(7) A new variable for each day is calculated and 1 included in the observation where
the loop date is in the range indicated by the inrange() function.
(8) The newly created variable is give a label; which is the loop date.
(9) Generate a unique id value to be used by the reshape command.
(10) Reshape the data from wide to long data format.
(11) Collapse the data to give the required results.
(12) Use the destring command to convert a string variable to a numeric variable.
(13) Rename variable.
(14) Include a variable label.
(15) Finally, list the results.

help
help input
help generate
help summarize
summarize command
help macro
help forvalues
help collapse
help destring
help rename
help label
help list
Top
Doing things by levels of a variable

(October 2011)
levelsof is a useful Stata command for doing something by levels of a variable. For example
producing a histogram of mpg by levels of the variable foreign eg.
clear
sysuse auto, clear
levelsof for, local(level)
foreach i of local level {

histogram mpg if for==ì', name(aì')
}
However, levelsof fails when there are many levels, as can be seen from the snipit of code:
clear
set more off
set obs 100000
gen a=_n
levelsof a, local(aa)
The levelsof help file states that this command is best used if the number of levels is modest.
What to do if the number of levels exceeds the limit?
The following are 2 methods:
Method 1
This method contracts the variable that the levels are required for and then merges it with the
dataset, hence the levels are contained in the Stata dataset:
Example:
sysuse auto, clear

expand 10000
graph drop _all
preserve
contract mpg
rename mpg levels
save c:/kk, replace
restore
merge 1:1 _n using c:/kk
drop _freq
drop _merge
sum levels
forvalues i=1/`=r(N)' {
scatter price weight if mpg==mpg[ì'], name(aì')
}
exit
Method 2
Using Mata to get the levels of a variable
sysuse auto, clear

graph drop _all
expand 10000
set more off
mata:
a=uniqrows(st_data(.,"mpg"))
a
for(i=1;i<=rows(a);++i){
st_local("i1",strofreal(a[i]))
stata("scatter price weight if mpg=="+st_local("i1")+", name(a" + st_local("i1")+")")
}
end
help
help levelsof
help contract
help mata
help mata st_local()
help mata stata
help mata unique
Top
Speeding up Stata - the if statement

(September 2011)
Stata is fast but it can be sped up by taking a close look at the way your Stata commands have
been coded. In this tip we will look at the if qualifer.
The if qualifier statement is computationly intensive and adds considerable time to the running of
a command that includes this. However there are certain circumstanes where this can be
replaced and hence Stata's running time reduced.
Example 1
This shows how you would normally run a number of regressions eg. just adding the qualifiers
behind the regress command.
// creating a data set

clear
timer clear
//creeat data
set obs 10000000
gen a=uniform()
gen b=uniform()
gen c=uniform()
save c:/exp1, replace
clear
//Example 1
//running regressions
timer on 1
use c:/exp1
regress a b c if c<.5
timer off 1
timer list
//the timer gives the following results:

. timer list
1: 20.25 / 1 = 20.2500
Example 2
The above example's comands have been modified to bring in only the required observations
(the ones that satisfy the qualifier). To do this we use the 2nd syntax of the use command.
clear
timer on 2
use if c<.5 & b<.5 using c:/exp1
regress a b c
regress a b c
regress a b c
//use c:/exp1
timer off 2
timer list
. timer list
1: 20.25 / 1 = 20.2500
2: 9.75 / 1 = 9.7500
As you can see example 2 runs considerably faster than example 1
Example 3
Another way of speeding up Stata is to create a variable where 1 equals
the observations that are to be included in the regression and then use a
less complex if statement.
clear
timer on 3
use c:/exp1
mark a1 if c<.5 & b<.5
regress a b c if a1
regress a b c if a1
regress a b c if a1
timer off 3
timer list

1: 20.25 / 1 = 20.2500
2: 9.75 / 1 = 9.7500
3: 17.28 / 1 = 17.2820
help
help use
help mark
Top
Stata 12's new Excel command
(August 2011)
With Stata 12 there are some new commands that make getting tables into an Excel spreadsheet
easier.
Stata 12 returns a matrix of the regression table in r(table) to see this do a regression and type:
matrix list r(table)
Stata 12 has a command for exporting into data in an Excel file eg. export Excel This command
can be access via GUI eg. File>Export>Excel spreadsheet or via the commandline. To see the
syntax type:
help import_excel
The following is an example of getting regression results into an Excel spreadsheet.
clear all
sysuse auto, clear

set more off
ds, not(type string)
capture erase "c:\stuff.xls"
local z=1
foreach i of varlist `r(varlist)' {

sysuse auto, clear
if "ì'"=="length" {
continue
}
regress length ì'
matrix a1=r(table)
matrix a2=a1[1..6,1..2]'
matrix list a2
clear
svmat a2, names(matcol)
generate name="ì'" in 1
replace name="_cons" in 2
if `z'==1 {
export excel using "c:\stuff.xls", sheetmodify cell(a`z') firstrow(variables)
}
else {
export excel using "c:\stuff.xls", sheetmodify cell(a`=((`z'-1)*2)+2')
}
local ++z
} //loop
help
help import
Top
Stata 12 PDF files of logs and graphs

(July 2011)
In Stata 12 log files are still output as either SMCL or text. However, in Stata 12 these log files
can be converted into PDF files. This can be easily done with the Stata translate command for
example:
log using c:/log1, replace

sysuse auto, clear
tab rep78 foreign
log close
translate c:/log1.smcl c:/log1.pdf , translator(smcl2pdf)
Also, in Stata 12 you can produce a PDF of a graph from within Stata. Example
sysuse auto, clear
scatter mpg weight //, name(g1)
graph export c:/graph.pdf //name(windowname)
help
help translate
help graph export
Top
Using value labels for bar graph labels

(June 2011)
It is sometimes more convenient to use value lables rather than the graph relabel options to
change graph bar labels. In the example below using value labels also allows the legend to be
spread over the width of the graph.
An example:
clear all
sysuse auto
label define origin 0 "Europe de l`=char(146)'Ouest" ///

1 "Asie de l`=char(146)'Est", modify
graph hbar mpg trunk turn, over(foreign) ///

legend(row(1) span) stack name(two,replace)
For help on specific commands type: help and then the specific command eg. help label
Top
Automatically sending emails from Stata - Windows platform

(May 2011)
If you are running a large model and wish to know how Stata is progressing or would like a log
file emailed to you or others when Stata has finished a do file or would like Stata to send out
emails based on a program that you write, then the following can be used.
To do this a program called CommandLineEmailer must be downloaded. (This is not a Stata

program) Intructions to download this are at Notes for Options 1, 8. below. To run
CommandLineEmailer a small text file is written in stata.
Options 1
Getting Stata to automatically send an email to indicate progress in the running of a do file:
capture erase kk2.txt
log using c:/kklog,text replace

set more off
forvalues i=1/2000 {
//data to run the email program
if mod(ì',100)==0 { //<--1
tempname fh
file open `fh' using kk2.txt, write //<--2
file write `fh' "smtpserver = mail.whatever.com.au" _n //<--3
file write `fh' "from = myeamail@whatever.com.au" _n //<--4
file write `fh' "to = reciever@whatever.com.au" _n //<--5
file write `fh' "subject = Test Message" _n //<--6
file write `fh' "body = ì' Test Message" _n //<--7
file close `fh'
!CommandLineEmailer /p:kk2.txt //<--8
erase kk2.txt //<--9
}
log close
exit
Notes for Option 1:
1. mod(ì',100)==0 determines when an email is to be sent. Other methods can be used.
2. Using Stata's file command you create a text file that contains the instructions to run
CommandLineEmailer The text file created was called : kk2.txt
3. The address "mail.whatever.com.au" must be changed to your address. To find this out with
Windows Live:
Open Windows Live
Using pulldown menu: Tools>Accounts
Click on: Mail
Click on: Properties
Click on: the "Servers" tab
Find the address at: Outgoing Mail [STMP]
The "_n" indicates newline.
4. Change the from email address to that required.
5. Change the to email address to that required.
6. Change the Subject title to that required.
7. Change the message in the body of the email to that required. In the above we have included ì'
to indicate the number of loops that have been completed. Other data can be included.
8. Calls the file that will run the above code.

! send commands to your operating system see: help shell
CommandLineEmailer: is the file that must first be downloaded. This can be obtained from:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/cpcommandlineemailer.aspx
eg. Download compiled utility - 6.05 Kb
(You must log into to download - free and easy to do)
9. Erase text file so a new one can be written.
Option 2
If you require that the log file be emailed to you (or others) when the analysis has been
completed. The following can be done:
capture erase kk2.txt
log using c:/kklog,text replace

set more off
forvalues i=1/2000 {
display "Looping index: ì'"
}
log close
//text file to run CommandLineEmailer

tempname fh
file open `fh' using kk2.txt, write
file write `fh' "smtpserver = mail.tpg.com.au" _n
file write `fh' "from = myemail@whatever.com.au" _n
file write `fh' "to = email@whatever.com.au" _n
file write `fh' "subject = Test Message" _n
file write `fh' "body = log sent: `c(current_date)' `c(current_time)'" _n
file write `fh' "attachment = c:\kklog.log" _n //<--10

file close `fh'
!CommandLineEmailer /p:kk2.txt
exit
Note for Option 2:
10. Attaches the log file to the email.
See Option 1 notes above for other details
help and then the specific command eg. help obs

Top
Generating a dataset
(April 2011)
Sometimes researchers expect a large dataset at some time in the future and wish to make sure
that their version of Stata can handles the dataset (within the limits of their version of Stata).
Also, they may wish to check that their version does the analysis in a timely manner and their
computer is set up to handle the data; otherwise there may be a need to upgrade the computer
and/or upgrade the flavour of Stata eg. Stata/MP
To see the limits of your existing flavour of Stata type: Help limits
The following examples generate sample data sets to experiment with.
(1) Generates a data sets with a number of continuous variables and observations that are
specified.
clear all
set memory 300m //<-- allocates 300 megabits of memeory to Stata
set obs 1000 //<--No. of observations
gen y=uniform()*10
forvalues i=1/100 { //<--No of variables
gen aì'=uniform()*100 //<--cont. variables
}
summarize
(2) Generates a binary variable and continuous variables.
clear all
set memory 300m
set obs 1000 //<--No of observations
generate y=uniform()<.5 //<--binary variables
forvalues i=1/100 { //<--No. of cont. variables
generate aì'=uniform() //<--cont. variables
}
tabulate y
(3) Generates a categorical variable and continuous variables.
clear all
set memory 300m
set more off
set obs 1000 //<--No of observations
generate y=mod(_n,4)+1 //<--cat. variable
forvalues i=1/10 { //<--No of cont. variables
generate aì'=uniform() //<--cont. variables
}
tabulate y
For help on specific commands type: help and then the specific command eg. help obs
Top
Printing log files

(March 2011)
Recently a few people have inquired about the printing of log files. People have had problems
with the truncation of right hand side the log file.
Stata has a few settings that allows control over the way a log is printed.
Option 1
Stata has various system settings. These can be seem by typing: query
To set the width of the text across the page use:
set linesize #
Example:
set linesize 85
The above example sets the linesize on the Results windows and hence the log to 85 characters.
(Note: not all commands are effected by the linesize setting, see the Stata 11 manual for more
details)
Note: The linsize setting must be done prior to running the log.
Option 2
When printing you can also control the print font size. To change this load the log file into a
Viewer window and :
Option 3
Print using the print command and include overrides eg.
print c:/experiment.smcl, header( off) fontsize( 6) logo(off) lmargin(3)
The overrides for the translators can be found by typing the "translator query" and the the name
of the translator. For example:
translator query smcl2prn
For further help on the above code, type the following on the Stata command line:
help log
query
help viewer
help translator
Top
Working with dates

(February 2011)
Stata has a considerable collection of time and date functions. These can be found by typing:
help date()
Often you wish to limit the command to before, after or between particualar dates.This is easily
done using the date pseudofunction or if the dataset has been set for time series the tin()
function.
Example using a Pseudofunction
Find the number of observations greater than a specified date.
clear
input str20 starts_d a
"20jan1980" 1
"20jan1981" 2
"20jan1982" 3
"20jan1983" 4
"20jan1984" 5
"20jan1985" 6
"20jan1986" 7
"20jan1987" 8
"20jan1988" 9
end
list
generate date1=date(starts_d,"DMY") //<-Note 1
summarize a if date1>td(25April1985) //<-Note 2
Note 1: Generates a new variable (date1) which is the elapsed time in days from a date datum (1
Jan 1960). This variable is numeric.
Note 2: Summarizes a subset of the data. The subset being determined by the pseudofunction
function td(). The number of observations in the subset are shown under obs.
Example using the tin() function
Find the number of observations up to a specified date.
clear
input str20 starts_d a
"20jan1980" 1
"20jan1981" 2
"20jan1982" 3
"20jan1983" 4
"20jan1984" 5
"20jan1985" 6
"20jan1986" 7
"20jan1987" 8
"20jan1988" 9
end
list
generate date1=date(starts_d,"DMY")
format date1 %td
tsset date1 //<-Note 3
list if tin(,25Apr1985) //<-Note 4
Note 3: tsset is the command to set the data for time series
Note 4: tin() determines the subset of the data. This function allows a lower and upper limit to be
specified; the lower limit being on the left and the upper on the right. If the left hand limits is omitted
Stata assumes that the lower limit is to be taken from the beginning of the data and conversely if
the right hand limit is omitted Stata assumes the end of the dataset.
For further help on the above code type the following on the Stata command line:
help date()
help tsset
Top
Producing Multiple graphs

(January 2011)
Multiple graphs can be produced in Stata 11 with loops. If all the numeric variables are required
to be graphed as histograms the following can be used:
sysuse auto, clear
foreach i of varlist _all {

if _rc==0 {
histogram ì', name("ì'")
}
}
The Stata "confirm" command checks if the variable is a numeric variable. If it is the Stata prefix
"capture" command returns _rc as 0 if not some other value is returned. Then the return code _rc
is then checked with the "if" command, if true the histogram is drawn if false the next variable in
the "foreach" loop is run.
If you do not wish to run all the variables in the dataset the following can be used:
sysuse auto, clear
graph drop _all // drop existing graphs
local a "mpg turn"
foreach i of local a {
if _rc==0 {
}
}
exit
Alternatively using the Stata's ds command:

sysuse auto, clear
ds , has(type int)
return list

}
exit
Or
sysuse auto, clear

ds make , not
return list
}
exit
This time still using the ds command but excluding the variables that you do not wish to graph with
the not options.
The default display for multiple graphs is to show each graph in a separate graphics window. To
show all the graphs in the one window (tab graphs) the stata setting: autotabgraphs can be set to
on eg.
set autotabgraphs on
Also, when displaying graph in the one graphics window the display can be altered by pulling the
tab into the desired part of the window. An example:
help capture
help ds
help forvalues
Top
Stata 11 PDF
(December 2010)
Stata 11 includes the manuals on PDF; all 8000+ pages! The manuals include detailed examples
of Stata commands, technical details, references and the maths for the command. While Stata's
online help is handy for those that are already familiar with the command, the manuals are very
useful for learning about new commands. There are various way of accessing the PDF manual.
These are :
1. To access the entire set of PDF manuals you can use the Pull down menu: Help>PDF
Documentation
2. For a specific entry, open a Stata online help page (eg. help regress ) and then click on the
hyperlink
3. Creating a hyperlink on the Results Windows. This is particularly helpful for Stata courses or
emailing a reference to a fellow Stata user.
display in smcl "{manpage GSM 141} {hline 2} starting MAC"

display in smcl "{manlink R regress} {hline 2} Linear regression"
OR
Creating your own ado file with PDF hyperlinks eg.
*******pdf.ado************
program pdf
display in smcl "{manpage GSM 141} {hline 2} starting MAC"
display in smcl "{manlink R regress} {hline 2} Linear regression"
end
**************************
save the above file as pdf.ado and put it in the adopath (suggest c:/ado/personal)
then to bring up the hyperlink type pdf on the Stata command line.
help adopath
help display
help smcl
Top
Regular Expressions
(November 2010)
Stata has regular expressions that allow you to work with simple or complex text.
Regular expressions are listed under string functions.
One application of regular expression is for working with address data. The following show how
to (in most cases) separate the postcode and state from an address.
clear
input ///
str100 address
"1234 West St Blackburn 3000 Vic"
"West St 1234 Blackburn 3000 vic"
"West St 1234 Blackburn Vic 3000"
"West St 1234 Blackburn sa 3000"
"12 West St Backburner 2001 nsw"
end
list
//getting postcode
generate postcode1=regexs(2) if regexm(address,"(^.*)([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])") //comment: reg1
//get state
generate state=regexs(0) if regexm(address,"([Vv][Ii][Cc]|[Nn][Ss][Ww]|[Ss][Aa])") //comment: reg2
//You could varify the first number of the postcode matches the state
generate check=1 if lower(state)=="vic" & regexm(postcode1,"[0-9]") & regexs(0)=="3" //comment: reg
list
Notes:
reg1: (^.*) means get any text "." zero or more times "*" and the brackets around this indicate a
subsection of the string - in this case subsction 1
Subsection 1 is to continue until the last 4 digit number as indicated by: ([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])
reg2: ([Vv][Ii][Cc]|[Nn][Ss][Ww]|[Ss][Aa]) requires a match of 3 characters the first character

being either V or v and the second character being either I or i etc. if the first 3 characters have not
been found then it continues to look for a match with the next group of 3 characters. The "|" symbol
is a logical OR.
reg3: looks for a match of state: lower(state)=="vic" , the lower() function makes sure that we are
comparing the states in lower case. regexs(0)=="3" checks the match of the previous statement
with the number 3; the correct start of the vic postcode.
Assuming that the postcode has been incorrectly coded with the inclusion of alpha characters
and needs to be cleaned up. The following is one way of doing this.
clear
input ///
str100 address
" 3a00c1 West St Blackburn 3a00c0 Vic"
"West St 123 Blackburn 3Re00c1 vic"
"West St 123 Blackburn Vic 3f000"
"West St 123 Blackburn sa 30jj00"
"12 West St Backburner 2001 nsw"
end
list
tempvar a1 a2 a3
gen à1'=""
gen à2'=""
gen à3'=""
local aa "[A-Za-z]"
//assume that the post code is in the second half of the string
replace à1'=regexs(0) if regexm( substr(address,strlen(address)/2,.)," ([3])(àa'|[0-9])*") //comm
replace à2'=regexs(3) if regexm(à1', " ([3])(àa'*)([0-9]*)")
replace à3'=regexs(5) if regexm(à1', " ([3])(àa'*)([0-9]*)(àa'*)([0-9]*)")
generate code="3"+à2'+à3' if à1'!=""
list
Notes:
reg4: substr(address,strlen(address)/2,.) limits the search to the second half of the string. The
space in " ([3]) between the " and (, indicates that a space is require and ([3]) indicates that this
must start with the number 3. The second subsection: (àa'|[0-9])*") looks for lower or uppercase
characters OR; as indicated by OR symbol: "|", a number. The "*" at the end of the 2nd statements
indicates zero or more times.
The following is problem that requires the separating of the days, months and years into separate
variables.
clear
input ///
str40 dpr
"2 yrs 5months 26 days"
"3 yrs 2 months"
"1yr 9 months"
"1 yr 8 months"
"1 yr 11 months 28 days"
"1 yr 12 days"
"3 yrs 3 months12 days"
"3yrs 4 months 26 days"
"1 yr 9mnths 8 days"
end
list
generate year=regexs(1) if regexm(dpr, "^([0-9])([years ])")

generate months=trim(regexs(1)) if regexm(dpr, "([0-9][ ]?)m")
generate days=regexs(1) if regexm(dpr, "([0-9]+[ ]?)d")
list
findit regular expressions

Top
Stata's profile.do command

(October 2010)
A useful addition to your Stata setup is a profile.do file. This is a do file that Stata looks for and
runs when starting a Stata session.
To create a profile.do file, click on the "New do-file editor" or type doedit on the Stata command line
and then type in commands that you wish to have executed when Stata starts up. Then save this
file where Stata can find it ie. on the adopath.
Included in the profile.do file can be:

Stata settings eg.
set memory 30m

set matsize 800
Setting the default directory:

cd c:/data
defining quick keys ie.
global F4 "summarize;"
Pressing F4 now executes the summarize command.
global F5 "sysuse auto, clear;"

Pressing F5 loads the auto data set that comes with Stata.
global F6 " display in smcl _newline(60);"

Pressing F6 creates 60 new lines so the Results window looks clean.
The profile.do file can also be used to load dialogue boxes into the USER pulldown menu. For an
example see:
http://www.stata-journal.com/sjpdf.html?articlenum=pr0012
(this show how to include meta-analysis dialogue boxes)
When including a profile.do make sure that it is on the adopath; so Stata can find it. To see the
adopath type: adopath
For further help on the above code see:

Stata 11 Getting started manual
help adopath
help profile.do
Use System variables' _n and _N

(September 2010)
Stata's system variabels' _n and _N can be used to do a large number of otherwise difficult tasks.
In this tip we will illustrate some of things that these can be used for.
Defintion:
_n : Current observation
_N : Total number of observations in data set currently in memeory
**Example 1
Generating observations that are a sequent of numbers equal to the Stata observation number.
The resulting variable: number
Generating observations equal to the last observation number. The resulting variable: number_T
clear all
set obs 10
generate number=_n
generate number_T=_N
The result of running the above is:

+-------------------+
| number number_T |
|-------------------|
1. | 1 10 |
2. | 2 10 |
3. | 3 10 |
4. | 4 10 |
5. | 5 10 |
|-------------------|
6. | 6 10 |
7. | 7 10 |
8. | 8 10 |
9. | 9 10 |
10. | 10 10 |
+-------------------+
**Example 2
Reversing the data so that the _N (last) observation become the first. This done for a particular
variable.
clear
set obs 10
generate number=_n
generate rev_number=number[_N-_n+1]
list

+-------------------+
| number rev_nu~r |
|-------------------|
1. | 1 10 |
2. | 2 9 |
3. | 3 8 |
4. | 4 7 |
5. | 5 6 |
|-------------------|
6. | 6 5 |
7. | 7 4 |
8. | 8 3 |
9. | 9 2 |
10. | 10 1 |
+-------------------+
**Example 3
Used _N with the bysort command to generate a variable that has the total number of children in
families.
clear
input ///
famid child
1 1
2 1
2 2
2 3
3 1
3 2
3 3
3 4
end
bysort famid: generate number=_N
list, sepby(famid)

+------------------------+
| famid child number |
|------------------------|
1. | 1 1 1 |
|------------------------|
2. | 2 1 3 |
3. | 2 2 3 |
4. | 2 3 3 |
|------------------------|
5. | 3 1 4 |
6. | 3 2 4 |
7. | 3 3 4 |
8. | 3 4 4 |
+------------------------+
**Example 4
_n and _N can also be used as a qualifier. In this example marking ,for each family, the child who
has the greatest income. The income variable is in brackets which tells Stata to sort this variable by
income. When sorted the last observation (_N) ,by family, is the greatest income for that family.
clear
input ///
famid child income
1 1 100
2 1 150
2 2 200
2 3 250
3 1 10
3 2 100
3 3 500
3 4 250
end
bysort famid (income): generate number=1 if _n==_N
l, sepby(famid)

+------------------------+
| famid child number |
|------------------------|
1. | 1 1 1 |
|------------------------|
2. | 2 1 3 |
3. | 2 2 3 |
4. | 2 3 3 |
|------------------------|
5. | 3 1 4 |
6. | 3 2 4 |
7. | 3 3 4 |
8. | 3 4 4 |
+------------------------+
**Example 5
Generating lags and leads in the data.

clear
input ///
time sales
1 100
2 150
3 200
4 250
5 10
6 100
7 500
8 250
end
generate lead=sales[_n+1]
generate lag=sales[_n-1]
generate lags=(sales[_n-1]+sales[_n-2])/2
list
+----------------------------------+
| time sales lead lag lags |
|----------------------------------|
1. | 1 100 150 . . |
2. | 2 150 200 100 . |
3. | 3 200 250 150 125 |
4. | 4 250 10 200 175 |
5. | 5 10 100 250 225 |
|----------------------------------|
6. | 6 100 500 10 130 |
7. | 7 500 250 100 55 |
8. | 8 250 . 500 300 |
+----------------------------------+
Users guide: [U]13.4 System variables ( variables)
help bysort
Top
Producing an edited log file

(August 2010)
Stata's log file reproduces what you see in the Results windows. Often there is a lot of material
that is not needed for a final report and this material needs to be edited before presenting a
report to others. Stata's log file can be edited from the do file as it is written. Just write a do file as
is normally done and then decide what is required to be included.
The example below has 2 ways of contolling the final log file output:
1. Turning the log on and off so only the material that you wish to see is added
To do this write a few local macros at the start of the log file and include these where required
between Stata commands.
2. Removing any text as required
Using filefilter to remove the unnessary text.
//set macros
local new "capture log using out1, text replace"
local on "capture log using out1,text append"
local off "capture log close"
sysuse auto, clear

`new'
*this is a comment
òff' //off
regress mpg weight
òn' //on
display "è(rss)'"
òff' //off
generate gpm=1/mpg
òn' //on
*this is GPM
summarize gpm
òff' //off
type out1.log //displays log file before filefilter
filefilter out1.log out2.log, from("off'") to(" ") replace

filefilter out2.log out3.log, from("`") to(" ") replace
filefilter out3.log out4.log, from(" //off") to("") replace
filefilter out4.log out5.log, from(".") to("") replace
type out5.log //displays log file
help macro
help filefilter
help type
Top
The input command

(July 2010)
When you're working with a data management or statistical command in Stata that you have not
previously used, you may not be confident that you are doing this correctly. So rather then work
with the complete data set it's often useful to make up a small data set that contains the critical
points and run this to see if it is doing what you had anticipated. Once satisfied you can run this
on the complete data set. For example if I wished to identify the observations that included the
current date and up to 4 days in advance the following could be used:
clear
input ///
str15 dates
"12/7/2010"
"13/7/2010"
"14/7/2010"
"15/7/2010"
"16/7/2010"
"17/7/2010"
"18/7/2010"
"19/7/2010"
end
list
gen date1=1 if inrange(date(dates, "DMY"), date(c(current_date),"DMY"),date(c(current_date),"DMY")+

list
exit
After running the above we see the result
. list
+-------------------+
| dates date1 |
|-------------------|
1. | 12/7/2010 . |
2. | 13/7/2010 . |
3. | 14/7/2010 1 |
4. | 15/7/2010 1 |
5. | 16/7/2010 1 |
|-------------------|
6. | 17/7/2010 1 |
7. | 18/7/2010 1 |
8. | 19/7/2010 . |
+-------------------+
. exit
Errors in logic can now more easily be spotted and you have saved time by not running the
complete data set. When this had been satisfactorily run it could be included in the main do file.
For further information on this command see:
help input

help comments
help date
help dates
help inrange()
help creturn list
Top
Splitting the Do Editor

(June 2010)
In Stata 11 the do editor can be split, making it easier to do some types of work. To do this there
must be at least two tabs on your do editor. Pull one of these to the middle of the editor. When a
selection box appears select one and 2 tabbed do editors windows appear.
Pulling a tab to the centre
Now there are two do editor windows
Top
Factor variables and lincom to produce a table

(May 2010)
Stata 11's factor variable can be combined with lincom to quickly produce tables.
In this example we look at the table on P226 of "Statistical Modeling for Biomedical Researchers:
A Simple Introduction to the Analysis of Complex Data, 2nd Edition by William D. Dupont" (See
out bookshop to order).
The data set can be downloaded: http://biostat.mc.vanderbilt.edu/dupontwd/wddtext/index.html
set more off

cd "C:\data\dupont" //if the data is stored in a different directory change this
//to where it has been stored
use "5.5.EsophagealCa.dta", clear
recode tobacco 3=2 4=3, g(smoke)
label define q_smoke 1 "0-9" 2 "10-29" 3 ">=30"

label value smoke q_smoke
logistic cancer i.alcohol i.smoke i.age [fw=patients]
forvalues i=1/4 { //alcohol

forvalues j=1/3 { //smoke
qui: lincom ì'.alcohol + `j'.smoke, or
local aì'`j'=r(estimate)
}
}
local a11=1
decode alcohol, gen(a)
contract a
keep a
matrix aa=( à11', à12', à13' \ à21', à22' ,à23' \ à31', à32' ,à33'\ à41', à42' ,à43')
svmat aa
rename aa1 Tobacco_0_9
rename aa2 Tobacco_10_29
rename aa3 Tobacco_30
list
exit
In the above the forvalue loop gets the different levels of alcohol and smoke. These are then applied to the factor variables
in the lincom command. The returned values from lincom are then stored in a Stata matrix; one at a time. After going
through all the combination of alcohol and smoke the matrix is then put into Stata and some labels applied.
For more information on the specific commands type help and then the command eg. help lincom
Top
Stata Graphs
(April 2010)
From time to time Stata is used to produce non-standard/interesting graphs. I have compiled some
of these graphs. These have mainly been presented on the Statalist. To see these graphs click
here. This page will be updated from time to time.
To see some of the User written graph commands click here. (from a previous tip)
Top
Tabdisp
(March 2010)
tabdisp is a Stata command that allows you to display Stata tables. This command allows lots
control of the way that the elements are displayed.
If cell percentages are required the following can be used:
sysuse auto, clear
contract for rep78

list
summarize _freq
generate percentage=(_freq/r(sum))*100
tabdisp for rep78, cell(percentage) cellwidth(7)
Or if the % symbol is also required:
sysuse auto, clear
contract for rep78

list
summarize _freq
generate percentage=(_freq/r(sum))*100
gen freq=string(percentage, "%5.2f")
replace freq=freq + "%"
tabdisp for rep78, cell(freq) cellwidth(7)
If the above is what was required then instead the user written program: tab2way or tab3way
could be used
There are many other ways to display your data eg. including the words max and min in the table
cells
sysuse auto, clear
contract for rep78

list
sort _freq
tostring _freq, gen(freq)
replace freq=freq+ " Max" in `=_N'

replace freq=freq+ " Min" in `=_n'
tabdisp for rep78, cell(freq) cellwidth(7)
For help on the individual commands type help and then the command name.
To download the user written command tab2way or tab3way , type: ssc install tab2way or ssc
install tab3way
Top
Tables to spreadsheet
(February 2010)
The tabulate command allows the values of the table to be save as matrices eg. options for the
tabulate command are: matcell(), matrow() and matcol(). These matrices can be put into a
spreadsheet. The table command however does not have these matrix options. However, there
are workarounds that make it easy to put the results that the table command would have given
into a spreadsheet. This tip explores a number of ways that this can be done:
This is the command what we wish use and then get the resulting table out of Stata and into a
spread sheet
sysuse auto, clear
//table in offical stata

table for rep78 , c(mean price)
The following gives us what we want but does not allow the output to be put into a spreadsheet
sysuse auto, clear
collapse (mean) price, by(foreign rep78)

list
tabdisp foreign rep78 , c(price)
This time getting the table into a Stata data set so it can be exported to a spreadsheet
This method has the advantage that the colum and row labels are also included
sysuse auto, clear
collapse (mean) price, by(foreign rep78)

list
drop if rep78==.
reshape wide price, i(foreign) j(rep78) //because the data is in long form it can be reshape
// into the required table
list
outsheet using c:/table, replace //outputting the table to a form that can be read with a spreadsh
This time using Mata to manipulate the initial data
sysuse auto, clear collapse (mean) price, by(foreign rep78) fillin foreign rep78 drop if
rep78==. sort for rep78 list mata: //start of Mata a=st_data(.,.) a s=J(2,6,.) s for(i=1; i<=10; i++)
{ r=a[i,2] c=a[i,1] s[r+1,c]=a[i,3] } names = st_varname((1..3)) names
b2=st_varvaluelabel(names[1,1]) b2 if(b2!="") { zy2=uniqrows(a[.,1]) b3=st_vlmap(b2, zy2) b3
} else { b3=strofreal(uniqrows(a[.,1])) b3 } b2a=st_varvaluelabel(names[1,2]) b2a if(b2a!="") {
zy2a=uniqrows(a[.,2]) b3a=st_vlmap(b2a, zy2a) b3a } else { b3a=strofreal(uniqrows(a[.,2]))
b3a } table=(""\b3a) ,(b3',"."\strofreal(s)) table mm_outsheet( "c:/table1" ,table, mode="r")
//user written program output to a Excel readable file end
As you can see there are a number of different ways of getting table information out of Stata.
For help on the individual commands type help and then the command name. To download the
user written command mm_outsheet, type: ssc install moremata
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Tables to spreadsheet
(January 2010)
When a large number of tables are required to be put into a spreadsheet and no use written
program is available to easily do this the following method can be used:
Write a program for the particular table (or any output) that you require. If there are a number of
different tables then written a program for each type of table.
The program starts a log file and then runs the table command. It then closes the log file. The log
file is then put through a file filter to remove any unwanted text.
The partially cleaned up log file is then imported into Stata using the insheet command and then
further cleaned up; removing any unwanted text and then the columns in the table are split into
Stata columns. The extent of the clean up depends on the desired output.
Having finished the cleaning up, this is either saved or appended to, using the required program
option.
Then you go on to append the next table to the file.

When finished the file containing the tables can be opened in a spreadsheet
clear programs //Clears the previous program to allow for

modfications.
//This can be removed when you are happy with
the program
program tables
version 11.0
syntax varlist(max=2 min=2) [, append]
gen(string)
tokenize `varlist' //split varlist
capture log using a, text replace

label var `1' `=strtoname("`:var lab `1'' " )' //combining the label into one word
label var `2' `=strtoname("`:var lab `2'' " )'
table `1' `2', stubwidth(40)
log close
filefilter a.log a1.log , from("-") to("") replace //deleting unwanted text in the log file
filefilter a1.log a2.log , from("|") to("") replace
filefilter a2.log a3.log , from("+") to("")
replace
insheet using a3.log, clear //brings the modified log file into Stata
drop in -4/-1 //get rid of other material
drop if strpos(v1,"log")
drop if strpos(v1,"pause")
drop if strpos(v1,"resumed")
drop if strpos(v1,"unnamed")
drop if strpos(v1,":")
capture drop v2
split v1
drop v1
//additional cleaning up if required

replace v11=subinstr(v11,"_", " ",. ) in 1/2
quietly: d
local a1=round(`r(k)'/2)
replace v1à1'=v11[1] in 1
replace v11="" in 1
set obs `=_N+2' //two line space between tables
if "àppend'"!="append" {
save `gen', replace
}
if "àppend'"=="append" {
append using `gen'
save `gen' , replace //saves file to hard disc
}
end //end of program
*********************************************
**the commands that calls the above program
*********************************************
sysuse auto, clear
set more off

cd c:/
tables for rep78, gen(aa) //1st table
sysuse auto, clear //2nd table

tables rep78 for, append gen(aa)
sysuse auto, clear //3rd table

tables for rep78, append gen(aa)
list ,noheader sep(0) noobs
outsheet using c:/aa.csv, comma nonames //saving to disk this can be opened in a
replace spreadsheet
exit
For more information see:

see help for the specific command
User written table output commands include:

tabout
logout
esttab
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Point Estimates for a Regression

(December 2009)
After a regression point estimates can be obtained with:
Examples:
sysuse auto, clear

regress mpg weight
display _b[weight]*3000+_b[_cons]
OR
sysuse auto, clear

regress mpg weight
lincom weight*3000+_cons
OR
sysuse auto, clear

regress mpg weight
//then open the data editor and add an additional observation for the weight variable eg.
3000
//then run the following
predict a
//then display the point estimate with the following
display a[_N]
This then displays the point estimate. The last method is useful when a number of estimates
need to be made.

help predict
Top
Doing thing quietly in Stata

(November 2009)
Stata's quietly command allows commands to be run without outputting to the results window. This
is useful if you only require the returned results (eg. r(mean) etc see help return list ) and not the
actual output.
Example:
sysuse auto, clear
quietly summarize mpg, detail
or
quietly: summarize mpg, detail
Also you can have a block quiet:
sysuse auto, clear

quietly {
summarize mpg, detail

local a=r(mean)
summarize price, detail
local a=r(mean)
}
If you wish to see specific output in a quiet block you can add noisily to this
Example:
sysuse auto, clear

quietly {
summarize mpg, detail
local a=r(mean)
noisily summarize price, detail
local a=r(mean)
}

help quietly
Top
Graphing functions
(October 2009)
The graph histogram command allows a normal distribution option to be included in this graph.
The twoway graph however does not have this option. However, this can also be easily done by
adding a function graph, as shown in the following example:
sysuse auto, clear

quietly summarize mpg
twoway (histogram mpg, bin(10), ) ///
(function y=normalden(x, `r(mean)', `r(sd)'), range(4 44) xlabel(#10) )
Lots of other functions can be drawn eg.
twoway function t=tden(1, x), range(-5 5) xsize(4) ysize(2) color(blue) ///

lstyle(p1solid) xlabel(-5(1)5) recast(area) || function z=normden(x), range(-5 5) ///
color(maroon) lwidth(thick)
twoway function c=chi2(1,x), range(0 5) xsize(4) ysize(3) yline(.5)
twoway function c=Fden(5, 10, x), range(0 5) xsize(4) ysize(3) yline(.3)
Top
Stata 11 - Variable manager

(September 2009)
Getting variable names into a do file:

The Stata 11 variable manager makes this easy. Just highlight the variable name(s) in the
variable manager, right click and then click onto "copy variable list" . Go to the do Editor and
paste where required.
Filtering variable names

On the top left hand side of the variable manager is the variable filter. Start typing any part of
the variable name in the filter and the variables that include this text remain in the variable
manager list; the others disappear. This is a great feature for looking for a particular variable in a
large dataset.
For more information:

help varmanage (Access Stata's PDF manual by clicking on the online help hyperlink: [D]
varmanage )
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Getting a Subset of a large dataset into Stata

(August 2009)
The various flavours of Stata have limits on various commands, label lengths, macro lengths etc.
One of the limits is the maximum number of variables that can be loaded into Stata.
In Stata/IC 11 the limit is set at 2,047 variables
To see the limits of the various flavours of Stata see: help limits
If your data set contains more than 2047 variables and you do not need all of these in Stata then
the second syntax of Stata's use command can be used to get a subset of this data set into Stata
help use
use [varlist] [if] [in] using filename [, clear nolabel]
example:
use mpg using "c:/program files/stata11/auto", clear
This loads only the mpg variable into Stata.

If you wish to inspect a dataset in memory (to see variable names etc.) you can use the second
syntax of Stata's describe command
describe [varlist] using filename [, file_options]
example:
describe using "c:/program files/stata11/auto", varlist
return list
Also see:
help memory
Top
Capture
(July 2009)
Controlling the unknown
Stata commands that result in an error, issue a non zero return code (_rc). In Stata 10 and Stata
11 the return codes can be seen in the Review Windows (you may need to expand the Reviews
window to see the _rc column)
If a command in an do file produces an error the do file will stop. This can be prevented by prefixing
the command with the capture command eg.
log close //example 1
capture log close //example 2
In the above example 1, a do file/program would stop running if there was no log file open. Stata
requires a log file to be open before it can be closed and no other log file open before it can open a
log file.
In example 2, a do file/program would continue to run even if there was no log file open. The
capture command allows errors to be ignored.
Apart from preventing a do file/program from stopping, the capture command can also capture a
command's return code in _rc. The return code (_rc) can then be used to make a decision in your
do file/program.
Example
sysuse auto, clear
tostring mpg, replace //for the purposes of the example convert mpg to a string variable
describe
foreach v of varlist price-foreign {
capture confirm numeric variable `v'
display _rc //allow you to see the return code
if _rc { //if _rc is not 0 (zero) the statement is true and Stata goes into the loop
destring `v',replace
describe `v'
}
}
Also see:
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2009-06/msg00623.html (An example of how to use a
return code to set up the default directory in Stata.)
help confirm
help capture
Top
Transparent Graphs
(June 2009)
Stata graphs can be made transparent in MS Word and other software. For example the
following graph was produced in Stata and then made transparent in Word.
The above graph was produced in Stata by:
sysuse auto, clear
twoway ///
(histogram mpg if rep78==3, fcolor(green)) ///
(histogram mpg if rep78==4, fcolor(blue))
graph export c:/hist.wmf, replace
Then in Word 2003

Insert>Picture>from file and then c:/hist.wmf
Click on graph
Edit picture
Right Click on a bar that you wish to make transparent
Format AutoShape>Color and lines tab>Fill section and the move the transparency slider to 50%
and press OK
Continue to edit all the bars this way. The legend can also be modified as per above
Save
Also see:
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2009-04/msg00574.html
Top
Getting Stata's Graph editor commands into Stata graphs

(May 2009)
Stata has a great graph editor. However, after you have modified your graph the editor will not
produce the normal Stata code for this graph. However, it is possible to retrieve the editing
commands if they have been recorded using the Stata graph editor recorder, adding gr_edit at
the start of each editor line and then adding this to the initial graph code. Now you have the code
to reproduce the graph.
Example:
Assume that you have run the following
sysuse auto, clear
histogram mpg
Then click on the Start Graph Editor icon and pressed the Start recording icon. Then altered
the color of the histogram bins. Then stop the recorder and saved the record on the hard disk
with a suitable name and path. Then opened the record (just saved) in Stata's do editor.
the line:
plotregion1.plot1.style.editstyle area(shadestyle(color(gs7))) editcopy
was retreived and gr_edit added to the from of this.
the complete file would look like:

sysuse auto, clear
histogram mpg
gr_edit plotregion1.plot1.style.editstyle area(shadestyle(color(gs7))) editcopy
this is run and will produce the original graph complete with the edit.
Alternatively you could save the recording and include it as follows:

sysuse auto, clear
histogram mpg, play(hist1) //hist1 is the name of the recording
Also see:
help graph play
Top
Weaving Stata results into a Word Report

(April 2009)
It is possible to put results from Stata into a word document by first obtaining your data in Stata
and then using mail merge to get this into Word.
For example, if you wish to automate you report writing and required the max. and min. mpg in a
Word report (using the auto.dta data set that comes with Stata ) this can be done with the
following do file: The user written program moremata is used this must first be installed. To install
type the following on the Stata command line eg.
ssc install moremata
Once installed run the following Stata do file is run
********************weaving do file*********************************
sysuse auto, clear
*determine max and min mpg
quietly: sum mpg
local max_mpg =r(max)
local min_mpg
=r(min)
di `max_mpg' //only if required to see results in
Stata
di `min_mpg' //only if required to see results in
Stata
mata
a="max_mpg"\st_local("max_mpg")
a1="min_mpg"\st_local("min_mpg")
a2=a,a1
a2
mm_outsheet("c:/tips.txt", a2, mode="r")
end
********************weaving do file*********************************
After running the above the text file tips.txt is produced (in C:/ drive)
Then in your MS Word report include the following:
The maximum value of mpg is: {MERGEFIELD "max_mpg"}
The minimum value of mpg is: {MERGEFIELD "min_mpg"}
Open the data source in Word and then run Mail Merge
After running mail merge your report should look like:
The maximum value of mpg is: 41
The minimum value of mpg is: 12
Using this method you can include tables, graphs etc. into your Word document.
References:
http://ideas.repec.org/p/boc/asug05/14.html
Also look at:
findit texdoc findit esttab findit estout

Top
Stopping Stata during the running of a do file

(March 2009)
When running a do file you may wish to inspect the data at various points. Stata has a number of
way of doing this. For example:
Option 1:
Using the edit command. Opens the data editor and allows you to inspect the data. When the
editor is closed the do file continues to run. (Instead of edit you could have used browse to open
the data browser)
sysuse auto, clear
regress mpg weight
edit
//stops Stata and opens the data edit window
summarize
exit
Options 2: Stopping Stata by using the more command

sysuse auto,
clear
regress mpg weight
more
summarize
exit
Options 3:
sleep stops Stata for a specified number of milliseconds
sysuse
auto, clear
regress mpg weight
sleep
1000 //sleep specifies the number of milliseconds to wait
beep
//used to wake you up if the sleep is too long
summarize
exit
Options 4:
exit stops a do file. To run more of the do file move the exit command down the do file and run
again.
sysuse
auto, clear
regress mpg weight
local a
1
exit //program stop at this point then move to another line and run again
display à'
help edit
help browse
help more
help exit
Top
Putting Greek symbols in graphs

(February 2009)
Greek symbols (or other symbols) can be added to Stata graphs. To add these you must first set
up your computer for this eg.
In Windows XP
Click on the start button (bottom left hand side of screen)

Click on the Control Panel
Click on Regional and language option
Click on the Advanced tab
Select Greek (or another language with you require this)
then click Apply and then OK (the computer will then be required to be restarted )
then in Stata:
using the pull down menu:
Edit>Preferences>Graph Preferences
Then font select Arial Greek
To see the numbers used in the extended code you can use the Nick Cox written graph:
asciiplot
(this is a user written command and must first be downloaded)
To download asciiplot type the following on the Stata command line
ssc install asciiplot
then for example, type:
scatter weight mpg, title( Example of Greek characters in a Graph `=char(238)' `=char(243)'
`=char(236)' )
Or the Stata graphics Editor can be used to include Greek symbols
Data Management Manual: char(n)
For an article on char()

See http://www.stata-journal.com/sjpdf.html?articlenum=dm0006
Top
Doing things by levels of a variable

(January 2009)
Using Stata's bysort prefix command
bysort is a Stata prefix command that allows you to execute commands by levels/groups of the
variable(s) that you specify
Example:
If you wanted to generate a new variable with a 1 at the first occurrence of each level of mpg the
following can be used (using the auto data set that comes with Stata):
sysuse auto, clear //load the auto data set into Stata
bysort mpg: gen first=1 if _n==1
If you wanted to generate a new variable with a 1 at the last occurrence of a level of mpg the
following can be used:
sysuse auto, clear //load the auto data set into Stata
bysort mpg: gen last=1 if _n==_N
Sorting within the group eg. if you wanted the car with the smallest weight within each level of
mpg the following can be used:
bysort mpg (weight): gen first_low_weight=1 if _n==1
Note that the brackets around the weight variable name indicates to Stata that this is not be
used as the level/group criteria but weight is to be sorted within each level of mpg
Stata 10 Data Management manual

Online help bysort
Online help for other prefix commands: help prefix
help _n
help _N
Top
Automation of Tables in Stata

(December 2008)
A tutorial showing different options for the automatic production of tables can be obtained by the
following commands:
ssc install tabletutorial
to install and then
help tabletutorial
Top
Memory usage in Stata

(November 2008)
Stata generally stores all of the dataset that it is working with, in the computer's memory.
Therefore, the computer should have sufficient RAM to load all of the data. Storing data in
memory allows fast access to the data. If the computer has insufficient memory and the
operating system allows, the data is stored on the computer hard disk, however this can be very
slow ie. Stata uses virtual memory where the operating system allows
Stata assigns an amount of memory for it's self so that it can store the data in RAM, so whatever
this is set to must be sufficient to store the entire data set. The memory settings in Stata can be
changed to allow sufficient memory for the data set.
What is sufficient memory?

To determine this the online calculator can be used
online calculator
A quick way to determine the average width of the variable ( bytes) is as follows:
(type the following on the command line or into a do file:)
describe
display r(width)/r(k)
Then put this number (average variable width) into the online calculator. The result from the online
calculator is the minimum memory required so allow 30-50% more then this for additional variables
etc.
then set the memory using the set memory command eg. set memory 50m
Other useful Stata memory commands are:

compress
memory
References
Top
Stata Comment
(October 2008)
Stata has a number of ways of adding comments to Stata code. Some of these are:
*
The star at the start of a line tells Stata to ignore what follows eg.
*this is ignored
/* */
The /* */ are used to add comments between code eg.
regress mpg /* weight is the independent variable */weight
or /* */ can be used to concatenate two lines of code eg.
twoway scatter (mpg weight) /*
*/ (lfitci mpg weight)
///
Stata ignores what is after /// and continues on the next line eg.
regress mpg /// dependent variable
weight
The #delim ; command is useful in a number of ways. One use is to comment out blocks of
code/text eg.
#delimit ;
*
display "this is a comment"
*;
#delimit cr
di "this is the end"

exit
the lines between #delimit; and #delimit cr are ignored
For further information on comments type help comments

For further information on #delimit type help delimit
Top
Stata tables (August 2008)

If you required a table of cell percentages you could:
sysuse auto, clear

svyset rep78
svy:tab rep78 for, per
An easier way is to use Philip Ryan's user written command tab2way:
tab2way rep78 for, cellpct
this command also has lots of other options. To download this type the following on the Stata
commandline:
ssc install tab2way
Stata users have written many commands for tables. To see a list of some of them type the
following on Stata command line (when online):
findit tab table
Then to download click on the hyperlink and follow the instructions
Top
Sending Command(s) to the Stata Do Editor from the Stata Review Window (July 2008)
While running Stata interactively, either with dialogue boxes or from the command line the
command(s) that you issue to Stata are recorded in the Review Window. These commands can
be put directly into the Do Editor for rerunning a session of Stata again, modifying the commands
and rerunning or as a record of the analysis.
Putting the contents or some of the contents of the Review Window into the Do Editor can be
done as follows:
In the Review Windows selecting the command(s) that you wish to go into the Do editor by:
Clicking on the command; if a single command is required

If more than one command is required. Holding down the shift key and select the commands
If all the commands that are currently in the Review Window are required then right click and
and press select all
Then: Right clicking the mouse button and selecting send to do-file editor
The Do editor will then open with the highlighted command(s)in it. To run this using the Do Editor
pulldown memu select: Tools>Do or using the icon (in Stata 10 this is the icon on the far right) or
save this file and run from the command line eg. Saving this as c:/dofile and run by typing do
c:/dofile on the Stata commandline.
For more details the Stata command type the following on the Stata commandline:
help do
Top
Creating a Stata dataset from multiple Excel worksheets (June 2008)
There are a number of ways of doing this:

odbc
Stat/transfer
Stata with the append command
In this example the Excel file is called book2 and is in c:/ drive. The file has two work sheets: kk1
and kk2
odbc
clear
tempfile kka
odbc load, dsn("Excel Files;DBQ=c:\book2.xls") table("kk1$")
save `kka'
list
clear
odbc load, dsn("Excel Files;DBQ=c:\book2.xls") table("kk2$")
list
append using `kka'
list
exit
Also see:
http://www.ats.ucla.edu:80/stat/stata/faq/odbc.htm
Using Stat/Transfer 9
With Stat/Transfer this would be done as follows:
Open tab: option 3
And then tick "concatenate worksheet pages"
Stata with the append command
Save each Excel worksheet as a csv in Excel. In this example c:/book2_kk1.csv and
c:/book2_kk2.csv are the two files created
insheet using c:/book2_kk1.csv, clear

save c:/book2_kk1
list
clear
insheet using c:/book2_kk2.csv, clear
list
append using c:/book2_kk1
list
For more details the Stata commands type the following on the Stata commandline:
help append
help insheet
Top
catplot (May 2008)
Nick Cox has written a useful graph command (catplot) that graphs categorical variables. This
user written program can be downloaded for free.
To download this:
On the Stata commandline window type:
findit catplot
then click on the hyperlink
catplot from http://fmwww.bc.edu/RePEc/bocode/c
and then follow instructions
If the catplot command didn't exist and you wanted to produce a bar plot of the frequencies of the
categories of rep78 then you would have to do something like:
sysuse auto, clear

tab rep78, g(z)
graph hbar (sum) z* , bargap(13) asc ///
yvaroptions(relabel(1 "1" 2 "2" 3 "3" 4 "4" 5 "5"))
With catplot this is make easier with the following:
sysuse auto, clear

catplot hbar rep78
For more details on catplot see the online help help catplot (once installed)
For other graphs that Nick Cox has written see:
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/Stata/faq/graph/njcplot.htm
Top
Stata Users' Group Meeting Proceedings (April 2008)
Material documenting the Stata Users' group meetings is worth looking through. It contains
articles on a large number of topics.
The list of Stata Users' Group meetings can be found at:
http://www.stata.com/meeting/proceedings.html
For example if you're not sure what regular expressions are, then have a look at:
http://ideas.repec.org/s/boc/wsug07.html
Or the following may be of interest:

Panel data methods for microeconometrics using Stata
http://repec.org/wcsug2007/cameronwcsug.pdf
Powerful new tools for time series analysis may be of interest:

http://repec.org/nasug2007/StataTS07.beamer.7727.pdf
Interested in Stata and genetics? Then have a look at:

A brief introduction to genetic epidemiology using Stata
http://repec.org/usug2007/slides_nshephard.pdf
There is lots more.
Top
Creating a binary variable from a continuous variable

(December 2007)
On way of creating a binary variable is to generate a new variable containing 0 and then replace
the contents of the variable with 1 based on a qualifier eg.
generate dummy1=0
replace dummy1=1 if mpg <=25
this can be simplified to one line eg.
generate dummy1= mpg <=25
this works because mpg <=25 is either true or false. Stata qualifiers evaluates to 1 if true and 0 if
false.
If the variable that is part of the qualifier contains missing values then include the if condition:
!=missing() eg.
generate dummy1= mpg <=25 if !=missing(mpg)
Other ways of creating dummy variables can be found at: Stata FAQ
Also see: What is true and false in Stata?
Top
New subcommand for listing user written commands

(November 2007)
Many user written commands are stored in the SSC (Statistical Software Components) archive.
In the lastest ado update for Stata 10 a new subcommand has been added to scc:
ssc whatshot
The syntax is: ssc whatshot [, n(#) author(name)]
Examples:
whatshot
whatshot, author(cox)
To get these commands you need to update Stata. To do this with the pull down menu:
Help>Official Updates and then click on www.stata.com. Then follow instructions.
For more information on SCC type help scc on the Stata commandline
Top
Undocumented commands
(October 2007)
In addition to the commands found in the Stata manual there are also undocumented commands
that you may find useful. To see these type help undocumented .
A commands that you may find useful is: twoway__histogram_gen
This command generates coordinates of the bars in a histogram. An examples of how it works is:
sysuse auto, clear

twoway__histogram_gen mpg , fraction gen(h x)
l h x in 1/20
twoway (scatter h x) (histogram mpg, fraction)
tab x h
exit
Another commands that you may find useful is the matalabel

This command generates 3 matrices in mata, one for each of: value label name, value and the
label
An examples of how it works is:
sysuse auto, clear

matalabel , generate("a" "b" "c")
mata
a
b
c
mata describe
vallab=(a,c)
vallab
b
end
Top
User written program - examples

(September 2007)
When learning new commands in Stata it is often useful to have examples of how the syntax is
applied. Stata's documentation includes many examples and allows you to downloaded data sets
for these (File/Example datasets), thus allowing you to reproduce the results. Also, Stata's online
help includes many examples. Another useful source of examples is Nick Cox's examples user
written program
An example of some of what you get by typing examples egen
Setup
. sysuse auto, clear
Create highrep78 containing the value of rep78 if rep78 is equal to 3, 4, or 5, otherwise

highrep78 contains missing (.)
. egen highrep78 = anyvalue(rep78), v(3/5)
List the result
. list rep78 highrep78
To see a description of examples type the following on the Stata command line when online
ssc describe examples
To install examples, type the following on the Stata command line when online
ssc install examples
Top
Settings for Stata

(August 2007)
Various features of Stata can be set to individual preferences or changed to meet the
requirements for a particular analysis.
To see what can be set type query on the Stata command line
Amongst the things that can be set (in Stata 10) is whether or not you would like graphs tabbed on
the graph window or each open graph in a separate graph window.
The syntax for this command is:
set autotabgraphs on , permanently
Other set commands that you are likely to use are:

set more off
set memory
For more information see the Stata 10 reference manuals
[R] query -- Display system parameters

[R] set -- Overview of system parameters
Top
Copy as picture - Copying from the results windows to Word and

Excel
(July 2007)
Stata 10 has a copy feature that allows you to copy highlighted parts of the results windows to
Word, Excel and other packages, as a picture. To use this, highlight what you want copied in the
results window, right click the mouse button and click on to "Copy as Picture". Then paste into
another package. In the other package this can usually be cropped and edited in the normal way.
Top
Estout - Stata Regression Tables

(June 2007)
Estout is a useful user written command for outputing regression results in various forms. For more
information you can see the estout web site go here
Top
Adoupdate
(May 2007)
The commands under update are useful for keeping Stata's executable file and the official Stata
ado files up to date (see help update). However, these do not keep the user written ado files up to
date. (user written programs that you have downloaded). To ensure that you are working with the
latest version of a user written ado file type adoupdate on the Stata command line or using the
pulldown menu help/SJ and user written programs and then click on update. (You must be online to
use this command)
For more information on the adoupdate command see help adoupdate .

Also, see update
Top
Nested Do file
(April 2007)
Stata allows you to break up your analysis in to logical sections; each part being a separate do
file, with all the parts of the analysis contained in one do file. eg.
**master****the do files below are contained in do file that you have name master.do (can
be called any other name)
.
.
.
do projA_data
do projA_error_checking
run projA_data_man
if M1==2 {
do projA _A1 // projA_A1 exits finishes analysis
}
do projA_results
exit
**master*************
In fact Stata allows nesting up to a depth of 64. eg. a do file calls another do file which calls
another do file; up to 64 times.
Nesting do files has some advantages:
Being able to reuse do files (that you have previously used an know that have no bugs) for
other projects
Stata doesn't have a "goto line X" command. However if you break down your analysis into
do files the same thing can be achieved.
Allows an quick overall view of the analysis
Easier to debug smaller do files than large do files
Some do files can be run (no output to the screen) and others can you can do (output to the
screen). This is easier then using the Stata's quiet command
Disadvantages:
More files to manage
To learn more see: Stata 9 Users guide [U] 16.2 and [U]16.6.2
Max. depth of nested do files, in Stata type help limits
Top
Personal help file

(March 2007)
Stata comes with help files for it's commands. However you may wish to compile a list of
frequently used, but hard to remember commands in your personal help file
Your own help file is saved as file with hlp extension eg. me.hlp on the adopath
An example of a help file is as follows:
{smcl}
{* 03may2005}{...}
{cmd:help Joe Blow } {right:updated 1 March 2007}
{hline}
{title:Wildcards and symbols}

{p2col :{helpb comments:comments} *, ?, ///, etc.}{p_end}
{hi:Wildcard zero or more} * or ~

{hi:Wildcard one character} ?
{hi:Continue onto next line} ///

{hi:Commment out line} * at beginning or /// midline
To learn more about smcl see the Stata Users Guide or look at a Stata help file (.hlp extension) in
the do file editor.
Top
spmap -- Visualization of Spatial Data

(February 2007)
spmap is a user written command that can be down loaded for free.
To download:
Make sure that you are online.
Type findit spmap
Then click on the hyperlink.
Once installed type help spmap to see the help file. At the bottom of the help file there are
examples of what can be done. Click the hyperlink to see the graphs.
Here are some of the examples.
Top
stcmd - Using Stat/Transfer within Stata

(January 2007)
The user written command stcmd can be used within Stata to change the data format of data
sets stored on disk. stcmd uses Stat/Transfer to do this.
To use this command you must first have Stat/Transfer and stcmd installed
To get Stat/Transfer contact Survey Design and Analysis Services (details below).
To get stcmd type findit stcmd in the Stata command Window and follow instruction to install
the program
Examples
Using stcmd to convert a Stata data set to Excel

stcmd "c:\Program Files\Stata9\auto.dta" c:/auto.xls, replace
Using stcmd to convert a Stata data set to SPSS

stcmd "c:\Program Files\Stata9\auto.dta" c:/auto.sav
Using stcmd to converting many files from Excel to Stata

stcmd mat*.xls *.dta.
For more information see help stcmd (stcmd must first be installed)
Also see fdasave for another way of changing the Stata data format to SAS
Top
encode
(December 2006)
encode is a useful command for converting strings to numbers. encode does this in alphabetical
order eg.
With the following dataset
var1
a
b
c
encode var1, gen(var1a)
Var1 Var1a
a 1
b 2
c 3
(Note: when Stata encodes it produces a value label: to see this type label list )
If this is not the encoding that you require a way around this is to define a value label first and then
use the label options for encode.
Eg.
If you have:
var1
a
b
c
But would like var1a encode like:

var1a
3
1
2
You would first define the value label eg.

label define preference1 a 3 b 1 c 2
And then applying this using the encode command

encode var1, label(preference1) gen(var1a)
Resulting in:
Var1 Var1a
a 3
b 1
c 2
The code to run the above:
clear
input str1 var1
a
b
c
end
label define preference1 3 a 1 b 2 c
encode
var1, label(preference1) gen(var1a)
label list
list, nolab

Stata 9 Data Management manual
Top
kdensity
(November 2006)
One of the problems with combining a number of histograms is that, generally where there are
more than 3, the graph becomes unreadable. kdensity may be an a solution to this problem.
sysuse auto, clear

twoway (kdensity mpg if rep78==1, color(red)) ///
(kdensity mpg if rep78==2, color(blue) ) ///
(kdensity mpg if rep78==3, color(black)) ///
(kdensity mpg if rep78==4, width(1)color(green) ) ///
(kdensity mpg if rep78==5, color(purple)) , ///
legend(label( 1 mpg at rep78=1) ///
label( 2 mpg at rep78=2) ///
label( 5 mpg at rep78=5))

Stata 9 graphics manual
A Visual Guide to Stata Graphic by Michael Mitchael
Stata Journal Vol 3 No. 2
Top
Intermediate graph commands

(October 2006)
Graphs cannot always be combined; even with the addplot option. However, you can still get
combined graphs by using the pci , twoway scatteri and twoway pcarrow commands. For
example if you wished to add a box plot to a scatter plot this could be achieved with the aid of the
pci command and a twoway scatter. sysuse auto, clear
qui sum mpg, detail
local a= r(p25)
local b= r(p75)
local c=r(p50)
local uav=`b'- 1.5*(à'-`b')
local lav=`b'+ 1.5*(à'-`b')
twoway (scatter mpg weight) ///
(pci à' 3000 `b' 3000, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci à' 3400 `b' 3400, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci à' 3000 à' 3400, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci `b' 3000 `b' 3400, lcolor(red)) ///

(pci `c' 3000 `c' 3400, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci ùav' 3200 `b' 3200, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci ùav' 3150 ùav' 3250, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci `lav' 3200 à' 3200, lcolor(red)) ///
(pci `lav' 3150 `lav' 3250, lcolor(red)) ///
(scatteri `c' 3450 "Median",mlabangle(45) mlabsize(8)) ///
, legend(off)

Stata tip 21 SJ 5 No. 2 pp282-284
Stata 9 graphics manual
Top
MATA
(September 2006)
Mata is Stata 9's new matrix programming language.
If you haven't had a look at Mata yet, then here are some examples of what you can use it for:
Example 1
Sorting rows in alphabetical order (statalist-digest V4 #2451)
(the user written program moremata must first be installed)
clear
input str20 x1 str20 x2 str20 x3

"massagli,mark" "wood,j." "dessent,harold"
"beletz,elaine" "carter,annie" "curtis,barbara"
"bradshaw,joe" "brown,arnold" "dunaway,lowell"
"schneider,mark" "mullins,bobby" "sump,lawrence"
end
list
tempfile foo
mata
C= J(3,1,"") //creates a new vector
A = st_sdata(.,.)' // a transpose view of the data in stata
for (i = 1; i <=cols(A); i++) {

A = sort(A,i)
C = C,A[.,i]
}
C=C[.,(2::cols(A)+1)]'
mm_outsheet("`foo'",C, mode="r")
end
insheet using `foo', clear tab
list
Example 2
xpose using mata (statalist-digest V4 #2328)
(the user written program moremata must first be installed)
clear
tempfile tmp1
input str16 v1 str2 v2 str2 v3 str2 v4

"Sex" M M M
"Age" 47 66 56 "Left eye"
"Right eye" Y Y Y
"Lower eyelid" Y Y Y
"Upper eyelid"
"Lateral canthus"
"Medial canthus" Y Y
"Recurrent lesion"
"Primary lesion" Y Y Y
end
list
mata
A = st_sdata(.,.)'
mm_outsheet("`tmp1'",A, mode="r")
end
insheet using "`tmp1'",clear

l, ab(15) noobs
Mata can do much more. To learn more see:
Translating Fortran
SJ 5(3), 3rd quarter 2005, 421 - 441
Using views onto data

SJ 5(4), 4th quarter 2005, 567 - 573
Creating new variables (Sounds boring, isn't)

SJ 6(1), 1st quarter 2006, 112 - 123
Interactive use
SJ 6(3), 3rd quarter 2006, 387 — 396
Various responses on Statalist

Mata Stata 9 reference Manual
Top
numlabel
(August 2006)
numlabel is a command that prefixes numeric values to value labels.
Without numlabel
numlabel , add //adding numlabel
For more information see help numlabel and the Stata 9 Data Management Manual
Top
viewsource
(July 2006)
viewsource is a command that allows a file located on the adopath to be viewed in the Stata
viewer.
Example: To view the code for the t test type viewsource ttest.ado
For more information see help viewsource and the Stata 9 Programming Manual
Top
datasignature - Determine whether data have changed

(June 2006)
If you have updated Stata 9 to the latest update (17 May 2006) you will find that a new Stata
command has been added: datasignature. (to find out what has been added with the update,
using the pulldown menu: Help>what's new or type whatsnew on the Stata command line)
Datasignature give a number based on the following:
1. The number of observations and number of variables in the data.
2. The values of the variables.
3. The names of the variables.
4. The order in which the variables occur in the dataset if varlist is not specified, or in varlist if it
is.
5. The storage formats of the individual variables.
Datasignature can be used for the following:
Examples of interactive use
1. checking with previous datasignature to see if the data has changed.
2. checking if you are working with the same dataset as your colleges.
For more information see help datasignature
Top
Simple Thematic Mapping

(May 2006)
tmap is a user written Stata program that allows you to map your data.
For more information on using tmap see:
FAQ
Stata Journal Vol 4 - No 4
Some shape data sources for Australia:
I mapped the Victoria electoral map using the following for actual population. Other maps can be
generated by adding your own data and then mapping this.
*-----------------------start do file------------------------------------
clear
cd "C:\ASTATA INFO\learning\tmap" //where the data has been downloaded to
set matsize 3000
mif2dta VIC20030129_elb, genid(id)
use VIC20030129_elb-database
describe
tmap choropleth actual, id(id) map("VIC20030129_elb-Coordinates.dta") palette(Reds)
exit
data downloaded from
http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/Who/profiles/gis/gis_datadownload.htm
*-----------------------end do file------------------------------------
Top
Separate (April 2006)

A useful Stata command for creating separate new variables based on either an expression or a
variable is separate
Eg.
separate mpg, by(mpg>20)
will create 2 new variables one being mpg<=20 and the other mpg>20
other examples are:

separate mpg, by(mpg)
separate mpg, by(mpg) gen(MPG)
For more information on the separate command see the Stata 9 Data Management manual or
online by typing help separate .
Top
Macro Expressions
(March 2006)
Rather than typing

local a=r(N)
forvalues i = 1/à' {
}
The above code can be reduced to

forvalues i = 1/`= r(N)' {
For more information on macro expressions see the Stata 9 Users guide [U] 18.3.8
Top
inlist() & inrange() functions

(February 2006)
Stata has many functions that make using Stata easier. Eg.
count if mpg==22 | mpg==25 | mpg==34 | mpg==45

can be written as:
count if inlist(mpg,22,25,34,45)
Another function is inrange() eg.

count if inrange(mpg, 23,34)
Instead of
count if mpg>=23 & mpg<=34
These functions can be used after the if qualifier with commands such as generate, list,
summarize etc., or after assert,
Examples:
assert inlist(mpg,22,25,34,425)
generate mpg1=mpg if inlist(mpg,22,25,34,45)
list mpg if inlist(mpg,22,25,34,45)
list mpg if inlist(mpg,22,25,34,45) | inlist(mpg,15,26,35,55) ///use 2 inlist functions when the
list exceeds the max. allowed for 1 function
Top
set trace on
(January 2006)
local all `"àll' `"`=`v'[ì']'"'"'
set trace off
with our data a section of the trace will look like this:
-local all `"àll' `"`=`v'[ì']'"'"'

= local all `" `"Volvo260"' `"11995"' `"17"' `"5"'"'
- set trace off
The first line is the line being executed. It has a - in front of it to indicate it is being executed. The
second line is after macro substitution has occurred. It has a = in front of it to indicate that
substitution has occurred.
See also the user written command: tr

To install this command: ssc install tr
For more information on trace see the Stata 9 programming manual. Also see the Stata
command pause.
Top
Do-file Editor
(December 2005)
When typing commands in the Stata Do-Editor, individual commands or a selection of commands
can be run by highlighting the section that you would like to run and then pressing the do icon.
This allows you to try out your file section by section.
Top
Regular Expressions
(November 2005)
Regular expressions allow the matching of complex text patterns. Regular expression commands
have been included in Stata 9 with the commands:
regexm - regular expression match

regexs - return nth subexpression from match
regexr - replace match expression with new string
For example
In the following example if you wish to have the day as a separate variable in the following data
set:
clear
input ///
str25 date
"12jan2003"
"1april1995"
"17may1977"
"02september2000"
end
list
The following could the used:
gen day=regexs(1) if regexm(date, "(^[0-9]+)")
breaking this down:

regexm: match expression
^: start at the beginning (LHS)of the string
[0-9]: the first character to be any numbers 0 to 9
+: one or more of the previous ie. characters between 0 and 9 (stops when a letter comes up eg. j
of jan)
( ): the brackets around indicates the subexpression. In this case there is only one group hence
regexs uses 1
regexs(): returns subexpression ie. first subexpression
The ouput from the regular expression:
. gen day=regexs(1) if regexm(date, "(^[0-9]+)")
. list
+-----------------------+
| date day |
|-----------------------|
1. | 12jan2003 12 |
2. | 1april1995 1 |
4. | 02september2000 02 |
+-----------------------+
Another example:
We have some text that includes citations. We wish to create a new variable that contains the
text of the last citation. In this case the last citation is not at the end of the text so it is useful to
reverve the text and then look for the desired pattern.
clear
input ///
id str200 cit_1
1 "EP696218-A -- WO9215370-A SUND _SUND-Individual_"
2 "WO9425112-A -- GB298635-A"
3 "EP578126-A -- CH180906-A AGE_OK"
4 "EP562128-A -- DE1684639-A"
5 "WO9318277-A -- DK137935-B"
6 "US4434855-A SEC OF NAVY _USNA_"
end
list
gen kk1=reverse(regexs(1)) if regexm(reverse(cit_1), "([A-Z][-][0-9]+[A-Z]+)")
list
For a FAQ on regular expression go here

Top
Text Editors
(October 2005)
The text editor that comes with Stata is fine for small programs. However, as the size of the
program increases other text editors are often used to make programming easier. For a
discussion on various text editors go here
Top
The function sum()

(September 2005)
sum(x) returns the running sum of x. A basic use of sum() would be: generate running_tot
=sum(1)
Another example of the use of sum() is: given the data below you need to create a new
variable that starts with zero and goes to zero for changes in id and increases by 1 for changes
in var2.
id var2
1 7
1 7
1 7
1 7
1 7
1 7
1 8
1 8
2 8
2 8
2 1
bysort id: gen running _tot=sum(var2[_n]!=var2[_n-1])
further information can be found by typing help sum() on the Stata command line
Top
clonevar (July 2005)

Stata 9 has a useful commands that generates an exact copy of an existing variable.
eg clonevar MPG=mpg
for more information see help clonevar
Top
Getting the path and file name onto the Stata command line
(March 2005)
Stata 8 has a handy way of getting files names complete with the path onto the command line.
Rather than typing folders, sub folders, and file name use the pull down menu File/Filename,
click onto the required file and path and file name will be shown on the command line; enclosed
in quotation marks. This is particularly handy when the path consists of many sub directories with
long names. You can then add commands such as cd, use to the command line.
Tabout -
a user written command (February 2005)
tabout- produces publication quality tables from Stata, with the output exported to a text file. It
can be exported as tab-delimited, html code or LaTeX/TeX code. -tabout- provides extensive user
control over formating of data and labels and generates table headers automatically
ssc install tabout
(or: ssc install tabout, replace).
To make learning the syntax easy, an example file which can be used as a tutorial is available
here
Top
window command (Feburary 2005)

The window command can be be useful for adding your frequently used commands to the pull
down menu, pushing commands to the review window and displaying the current file in the top
left hand corner of the Stata window and a lot more.
To have your current file name displayed on the Stata window you can add the following to your
do file:
window manage maintitle "`c(filename)'"
See your programming manual for further details on the window command
Top
ds - Describing Variables and Saving Results
(January 2004)
ds lists the variable names of the dataset currently in memory in a compact form. The command
is useful if you require a list of variables that satisfies certain criteria. The list that results is saved
in r(varlist) which can be used in other commands eg.
(Using the auto dataset supplied with Stata)
use "c:/stata8/auto.dta", clear

ds, not(vall origin)
list `r(varlist)'
ds m*
list `r(varlist)'
See describe in the Stata reference manual for more details.

Also see statalist-digest V4 #1701 & #1607
Top
WORKING IN ROWS
(December 2004)
The egen command has a number of functions that make it easier to work with data in rows.
Rather than using xpose or reshape to convert the data to columns these commands may be
able to be used.
Egen's row functions"
rfirst(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It gives the first nonmissing value in
varlist for each observation (row). If all values in varlist are
missing for an observation, newvar is set to missing.
rlast(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It gives the last nonmissing value in
varlist for each observation (row). If all values in varlist are
missing for an observation, newvar is set to missing.
rmax(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It gives the maximum value (ignoring
missing values) in varlist for each observation (row). If all values in
varlist are missing for an observation, newvar is set to missing.
rmean(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It creates the (row) means of the
variables in varlist, ignoring missing values; for example, if three
variables are specified and, in some observations, one of the variables
is missing, in those observations newvar will contain the mean of the
two variables that do exist. Other observations will contain the mean
of all three variables. Where none of the variables exist, newvar is
set to missing.
rmin(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It gives the minimum value in varlist for
each observation (row). If all values in varlist are missing for an
observation, newvar is set to missing.
rmiss(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It gives the number of missing variables
in varlist for each observation (row). String variables -- if specified

-- are counted as containing missing when their value is ""; numeric
variables are counted as containing missing when their value is system
missing (.) or extended missing (.a, ..., .z).
robs(varlist) [, strok]
may not be combined with by. It gives the number of nonmissing values
in varlist for each observation (row) -- this is the value used by
rmean() for the denominator in the mean calculation.
String variables may not be specified unless option strok is also
specified. If strok is specified, string variables will be counted as
containing missing values when they contain ""; numeric variables will
be counted as containing missing when their value is ., as usual.
rsd(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It creates the (row) standard deviations
of the variables in varlist, ignoring missing values. Also see rmean().
rsum(varlist)
may not be combined with by. It creates the (row) sum of the variables
in varlist, treating missing as 0.
Top
A REMINDER TO START A LOG

(November 2004)
Would you like to be reminded to start a log each time that you start Stata.
One way of doing is this is to include the command below in your profile.do file
db log
For information on profile see the GETTING STARTED MANUAL - More on starting and stopping
Stata
Top
Version Control
(October 2004)
PROBLEM: Stata is continually being improved, meaning programs and do-files written for older
versions might stop working.
SOLUTION: Specify the version of Stata you are using at the top of programs and do-files that
you write:
------------------------------------------ myprog.do ---

version 8.2
use mydata, clear
regress ......
------------------------------------------ myprog.do ---
---------------------------------------- example.ado ---

program myprog
version 8.2
end
---------------------------------------- example.ado ---
For further information see the Stata programming manual
Top
Assert (September 2004)

Assert is a useful command for verifying your data. e.g..
assert sex=="Male" | sex=="Female"
assert mpg<50 & mpg>10
Also see Stata reference manual for further information.
Top
Tips - Data Management
Below are examples of Stata table commands.
More Stata user written table commands can be found at:
http://repec.org/bocode/e/estout/
http://www.ianwatson.com.au/stata.html
Table - out
+ Example code
Table - rtf
+ Example code
+ Example code
Top
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Stata - Tips PDF

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17/6/2019 Stata | Tips

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Tips for using Stata

list var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1

list var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1, nolabel

list var1 var7-var10 var3, nolabel, if gender==1

Edit and browse

edit var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1

edit var1 var7-var10 var3 if gender==1, nolabel

• If you subscribe to Statalist you get messages throughout the day.

The Stata Journal and Stata Technical Bulletin (STB)

For a complete list of all STB articles, see http://www.stata.com/info/products/stb/stbvols.html

The following links take you to external sites of interest:

contract - the table

sysuse auto, clear

edit for mpg freq if index==1

//Or reducing this further to:

sysuse auto, clear

edit for mpg freq if !missing(freq)

Foreign mpg freq

The equivalent contract command:

contract mpg for

A twoway table can even by produced in the editor.

sysuse auto, clear

bysort mpg for: gen freq=_N

bysort mpg (freq0): replace freq0=freq0[1]

bysort mpg : gen index1=1 if _n==1

rename freq0 domestic_cars

edit mpg domestic_cars foreign_cars if index1==1

mpg domestic foreign

The equivalent table command:

tabulate mpg for

For further help:

The Stata cond() function

From the online help ( help cond() ):

Description: returns a if x is true and nonmissing, b if x is false, and c if x is missing. returns a if c

The following are some examples and comments.

Example 2: There are of course many other ways of doing this:

generate c=max(a,5) if !missing(a)

Using cond() is a spell checker

//generating the data

//The alternative is to use:

Using cond() to categorise a variable into negative, zero and postive.

generate b=cond(a>=0, a!=0, -1)

//or using nested cond() functions

An interesting way of dealing with missing values (as seen on Statalist)

Another example seen on statalist. This time for dropping duplicates

quiet bysort hhid hhsize:gen dupobs=cond(_N==1,0,_n)

// Probably a better way of dealing with this is:

// The above is OK but could also be replaced with:

From the statalist

graph twoway connected `yvars' xhelp, title(`title') .….

For further help:

There are many ways to approach this. This is one way.

(1) Produces all combination in numbers

(2) Using value labels to attached the variabl name

(3) Decode to produce a variable in the dataset

I have used this approach because of the limited storage in macros.

tempvar cat bbb q con con1

save temf, replace //save the dataset currently in Stata

labels1 `numtot' //program

foreach i of numlist `=r(numlist)' {

rename (var4) (fourvar4)