help infiling
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Title
[D] infile -- Overview of reading data into Stata
Description
This entry provides a quick reference for determining which method to use
for reading non-Stata data into memory. See [U] 21 Inputting data for
more details.
Summary of the different methods
insheet (see [D] insheet)
1. insheet reads text (ASCII) files created by a spreadsheet or database
program.
2. The data must be tab separated or comma separated, but not both
simultaneously, and cannot be space separated.
3. An observation must be on only one line.
4. The first line of the file can optionally contain the names of the
variables.
infile (free format) -- infile without a dictionary (see infile1)
1. The data can be space separated, tab separated, or comma separated.
2. Strings with embedded spaces or commas must be enclosed in quotes
(even if tab- or comma separated).
3. An observation can be on more than one line, or there can even be
multiple observations per line.
infix (fixed format) (see [D] infix (fixed format))
1. The data must be in fixed-column format.
2. An observation can be on more than one line.
3. infix has simpler syntax than infile (fixed format).
infile (fixed format) -- infile with a dictionary (see infile2)
1. The data may be in fixed-column format.
2. An observation can be on more than one line.
3. infile (fixed format) has the most capabilities for reading data.
fdause (see [D] fdause)
1. fdause reads SAS XPORT Transport format files -- the file format
required by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
2. fdause will also read value label information from a formats.xpf
XPORT file, if available.
haver (Windows only) (see [D] haver)
1. haver reads Haver Analytics (http://www.haver.com/) database files.
2. haver is only available for Windows and requires a corresponding DLL
(DLXAPI32.DLL) available from Haver Analytics.
odbc (see [D] odbc)
1. ODBC, an acronym for Open DataBase Connectivity, is a standard for
exchanging data between programs. Stata supports the ODBC standard
for importing data via the odbc command and can read from any ODBC
data source on your computer.
xmluse (see [D] xmlsave)
1. xmluse reads extensible markup language (XML) files -- highly
adaptable text-format files derived from ground station markup
language (GSML).
2. xmluse can read either an Excel-format XML or a Stata-format XML file
into Stata.
Also see
Manual: [D] infile
Help: [D] edit, [D] fdause, [TS] haver, [D] infile (free format), [D]
infile (fixed format), [D] infix, [D] input, [D] insheet, [D]
odbc, [D] xmlsave
