Why this site?
The 'package' here is both too large and too frequently updated for the usual distribution methods.
It's not very similar to a regular 'package' either: It's not a single command or a set of related commands, it's a big glob of everything I want while using stata. All of the user-facing commands rely on the same web of support pieces, so there's no sensible way to divide it up.
- Download the archive lowyseattle.zip
- Expand it as a directory named /lowyseattle/
It makes sense to place /lowyseattle/ in your stata /ado/ directory, along with other stata commands. Eventually, another directory (/seattel/) will be created in the same place, to hold settings, logs, etc.
- In Stata, do adopath + "path to/lowyseattle/"
- In Stata, do lowy check
- If you get command lowy is unrecognized, there was an error in an earlier step.
- If your stata version is older than the one I'm using, you'll get a link to click on, which will re-compile the library for your version of stata.
- When lowy check runs to completion, it will display some details about the installation.
At this point, everything should be installed and working and you can proceed to using the commands.
However, if you stop here, each time you launch stata, you will need to re-execute the adopath command; to eliminate that step, you need to include the command in your profile.do.
In profile.do, after adopath + path, I suggest including elfs startup; it enables a few startup options, if you choose to use them later.
This is stata's way of customizing your setup. You can read stata's docs on the topic by doing help profile — but they're a little more involved than strictly necessary.
profile.do is just a regular do-file, but it has to be named profile.do, and it has to be saved in one of a few specific locations.
The recommended location is your 'home' directory. On windows, this is usually C:\users\username
On windows, you can have stata display your home directory by doing:
display "`:environment USERPROFILE' "
Save a file called profile.do in your home directory; make sure it includes the command(s) described above; you should be set.
If you're using VA vinci, the requirements are different: Using stata's do-file editor, Save As..., and save profile.do in \Desktop\Libraries\Documents\.
If the profile does not run when launching Stata, contact vinci's help desk.
After installation, doing help lowy, or just lowy, will get you to the details.
The choice of lowy as the command name was foisted upon me by folks at Seattle HSR&D, who insisted it was the easiest thing to remember.
- Delete the existing directory /lowyseattle/
- Download the archive lowyseattle.zip
- Expand it at the same place as the old /lowyseattle/
That's it. All your existing settings etc. will be maintained (they're in /seattel/).
| Date | Type | Commands | Description | |
| 2019/10/07 | change | archopy | new option to move/copy + copy/archive | |
| syntax | lowy | New check subcommand, replaced details - also it should work | ||
| syntax | html | Several 'bits' removed (moved to htrp), new nav subcommand, reworked div, moved variant spec | ||
| new | sql mkdri | Create a schema, with correct default authorization | ||
| syntax | sql path | No comment | ||
| syntax | sql leftall sql wide |
Changed subcommands, syntax, and functionality; now 'sql global' they create global variables | ||
| syntax | freetext | Many adjustments: syntax, formatting, workflow | ||
| 2019/04/01 | syntax | tby tally |
tby renamed to tally; main & by() parameters switched around | |
| change | tlist | column percents | ||
| change | insertat | can insert variables as well as observations | ||
| 2019/01/16 | change | sql | script now uses ^d: as mark for cast to datetime2(0) | |
| new | reorder | reorder variables | ||
| change | tone | frequency weights supported | ||
| ☀ | new | ssheet | combine output in a spreadsheet | |
| ☀ | new | obstovars | replacement for reshape wide | |
| ☀ | new | varstoobs | replacement for reshape long | |
| change | tlist | added ability to define column groups, for styling | ||
| syntax | sql | utility commands (cols, tables, etc); again | ||
| change | globel | new subcommand to create a global for the current project directory (path) | ||
| change | sql | script resolves ^g: marks to same-named global, by default | ||
| change | usel savel portel_xl |
changed some details of variable name & nlabel export/import | ||
| syntax | savel | dropped metadata options (moved to trd), cd option; added archive option | ||
| new | mumacs | multiple coordinated macros for looping | ||
| new | tby | counts of records and uniques | ||
| new | badvars | variables smoking in the bathroom | ||
| gone | nmiss | included in badvars | ||
| gone | uniq | included in tby | ||
| gone | cnt | included in tby | ||
| gone | tsame | included in tby, except mult() option, which is part of badvars | ||
| new | archopy | create an archive copy of a file | ||
| ☀ | new | out option | new spreadsheet destination, data-to-memory | |
| ☀ | change | cdl | added options for creating, running project settings | |
| new | trd | assign title, revision, description to a datafile | ||
| change | del | additional metadata | ||
| syntax | html | many fairly minor adjustments/additions | ||
| syntax | out option | several tweaks, new standard predefined option | ||
| 2017/12/05 | ☀ | change | - | projects are now defined by a PROJECT SETTINGS directory instead of a file. |
| new | sql complete | flag files to retain their metadata when moving between stata & sql | ||
| gone | sql finish | superceded by sql complete | ||
| new | sql clump | assign descriptions and groups to remote tables | ||
| gone | sql merge | dropped all support for merging; sql write leftall is useful in some cases. | ||
| new | sql schemas | list schemas in a remote database | ||
| new | sql echo | set the amount/type of sql echoed to results | ||
| change | - | concept of current data file replaced with most recent data. SQL/remote data sources are fully supported. See recent | ||
| syntax | sql cols sql tables sql clear sql dbd |
some adjustments to the way the super-category & selected items are specified | ||
| change | sql dbd | display adjusted for dropped/added metadata | ||
| change | tlist | revised label options | ||
| change | tstats | revised label options | ||
| syntax | usel | lost the < option, related to recent | ||
| syntax | out | slight syntax change to style suboption | ||
| ☀ | syntax | nlabels vlabels | revised syntax, and possibly improved documentation | |
| syntax | globel | completely revamped syntax | ||
| syntax | models | command name changed to tmodels | ||
| syntax | recent | gained subcommands for re-loading recent local or remote data | ||
| change | recent | only tracks (main) data | ||
| ☀ | syntax | tlist | You can now specify #/% column pairs, using any denominator! syntax adjusted to support the new capability: styles can specify columns numerically in addition to by name, and coordination with tlisthead is changed. | |
| syntax | tlisthead | completely revamped syntax | ||
| change | sql | Expanded/improved metadata for tables: descriptions and groups/categories | ||
| ☀ | change | sql | Everything having to do with merging, or with tracking multiple queries per table, is removed. | |
| 2017/08/14 | syntax | html div | showif() option no longer uses the prefix 'controls.' | |
| syntax | elfs | settings reorganized; syntax re-arranged | ||
| ☀ | change | - | settings data moved to .dta files; all user settings will need to be re-set | |
| 2017/06/07 | ☀ | new | - | added title() option to most commands that use out() option |
| new | rxonoff | transform days supplied to days on/off | ||
| syntax | out() | email sub-option changed to hifi; the output is now standard html | ||
| syntax | tone | first var of main parameter moved to by() option; alternative new for() options allow spec of arbitrary (esp overlapping) groups | ||
| change | tone | some improvements to data output | ||
| ☀ | new | cdw | Browse the CDW metadata | |
| change | - | significantly revamped display engine; handles some unicode | ||
| syntax | sql do | changed only(wrapper-id:) to only(:wrapper-id) | ||
| change | sql path | new syntax allows schema. as well as .schema | ||
| new | codex | new subcommand for codex to update the dictionaries with current CDW contents. | ||
| change | finddata | fixed copy strings to keep case, etc. | ||
| 2017/04/07 | ☀ | new | freetext | Suite of commands for cleaning and categorizing free-text data. |
| 2017/04/02 | ☀ | new | out() | New destintion: data — sends any output as tabular data to a file (stata/excel/text...) |
| change | finddata tsame collect |
Fixed cmd-created variables so that renaming them keeps them from being dropped on re-run | ||
| change | drany | dropped specific command-variable option | ||
| ☀ | syntax | codex | Completely revamped v2 codex | |
| ☀ | change | globel | Can assign categories to global macros; displays a clean, formatted list of global macros by category | |
| syntax | sql do script | ^codex= subsumed into ^use= | ||
| change | sql do | Preview & metadata creation fixed & updated | ||
| syntax | sql | Specify 'path' in main parameter for tables, cols, dbd, clear | ||
| new | sql write wide | Write sql for reshape/pivot | ||
| new | sql write leftall | Write sql for left-joining many tables (with specified columns) to an index table | ||
| change | cdl | Changed the way cdl runs project settings; added edit option to cdl | ||
| gone | proj | subsumed into cdl | ||
| 2016/09/20 | ☀ | new | lowy | subcommands display this stuff, and take over for help lowy and lowyupdate |
| gone | help lowy lowyupdate |
subsumed into lowy | ||
| change | elfs | combined bits from elfs misc with bits that used to be implicit to make the new elfs hooks | ||
| change | elfs | revised all the docs, to v2; esp: added remarks on how & why to use elfs facts | ||
| ☀ | change | elfs startup | added whatsnew (this listing) and hooks | |
| change | elfs instance elfs colors |
fixed several bugs causing errors on the TS | ||
| new | remeta | documented and improved; uses the project folder | ||
| syntax | finddata | moved options noreplace and expand to suboptions of copy(); renamed option onefind to uniquelyfound | ||
| new | finddata | added 2 return values: r(matched) r(uniquely) |
| View/Analyze | |
| tfreq | Instead of tabulate |
| tlist | Instead of list |
| tlisthead | Sets up multiple super-headings for use with tlist |
| tstats | Instead of table, tabstat, summarize, tabulate-summarize |
| tone | Table of bivariate associations between a given variable and a list of other variables (ie, Table 1). Alias bivar |
| tally | Counts of records and uniques |
| intercorr | Correlations between two sets of variables |
| tmodels | Build and display a table of estimation results |
| badvars | Report on problem data |
| emiss | Report on extended missing values |
| Create/Change | |
| obstovars | Instead of reshape wide |
| varstoobs | Instead of reshape long |
| collapsel | Instead of collapse |
| encodel | Instead of encode |
| ddt | Transform date and datetime variables |
| freetext | Suite of commands for cleaning and categorizing free-text data |
| genif | Shortcut for a series of gen statements, using if/else-if logic |
| elgen | A subset of egen, with some advantages |
| xtilel | xtile that can be used with by prefix |
| randid | Create an anonymous ID |
| rxonoff | Generate a dataset of days on/off |
| rrc | Generate adherence statistics |
| rxdays | Find patients on drug therapy, by days supply |
| rxdose | Find patients on drug therapy, by dose |
| drany | drop, with some tweaks |
| Input/Output | |
| recent | View or reload recent data |
| usel | Instead of use |
| savel | Instead of save |
| finddata | Instead of merge |
| collect | Instead of append |
| clearl | Instead of clear (works with the other file cmds) |
| cdl | Instead of cd — can create and run project setup files |
| sql | Suite of commands for using odbc remote dbs |
| callst | Use StatTransfer to translate to/from Stata format |
| readonly | Make a file read-only |
| Metadata | |
| trd | Set the title, revision, description for a datafile |
| remeta | Save and re-use metadata |
| dd | Instead of ds |
| del | Instead of describe |
| chlist | Display a table of variables/characteristics |
| reorder | Reorder variables in the dataset |
| qlabel | Instead of label define, label values |
| pair | Create value labels from a second variable |
| savesaslabs | Read a sas program and create a dataset of labels |
| importlabels | Create and assign value labels from data in an external file |
| Other commands | |
| html | Suite of commands for composing html pages |
| ssheet | Suite of commands for composing spreadsheet files |
| toview | Send output to a View Window |
| codex | Suite of commands for dealing with codes (eg, icd9) |
| dotoo | Pre-process and execute code, noting filepath |
| archopy | Make an archive copy of a file |
| source | Launches files in Windows (eg, to edit source code) |
| hs | Synonym for help, that should re-use the same single viewer |
| globel | global, plus display |
| mumacs | multiple coordinated globals, for looping |
| insertat | Inserts empty records at specified row |
| elfs | Settings |
| lse | Environment (settings) |
| lowy | Updates, installation details |
| Other help |
| Nothing to display |