Finding resources from within Stata

One great source for user-written software for Stata is the Stata Journal (SJ). There are many other resources available, including the Statalist archive, but we will use the SJ archive for this example.

From Stata’s toolbar, click on Help > SJ and User-written Programs, or at the command prompt, type help net_mnu.

A browseable page of sources for user-written programs will appear, listing the Stata Journal, Stata Technical Bulletin (STB), and other sources.

To access the software packages from current or archived issues of the Stata Journal, click on the Stata Journal link, or type net from http://www.stata-journal.com/software.

A list of past and current issues will be displayed, each with a link to the corresponding software for that issue.

Click on the desired issue, or type net cd issuename.

You can now see a list of the individual software packages for that particular issue. Click on a package name for more information, or type net describe packagename.

A brief description of the package will appear, including the article and author names, as well as a list of items included in the package. For more detailed information, click on one of the help files listed in the Viewer. To install the ado-files and the help files, select the click here to install link, or type net install packagename. To install the ancillary files, select the click here to get link, or type net get packagename.

Stata will automatically find the correct directory for installation.

To access other resources, select Help > SJ and User-written Programs > Other locations, or type net from http://www.stata.com.

The resulting directory list includes

The directions for accessing the contents of these directories are the same as for the Stata Journal.

The web is also full of resources available to enhance Stata. However, many of the same resources, as well as many additional resources not available through your web browser, are accessible from within Stata itself. Without ever leaving the program, you can use Stata's findit and search commands to seek articles, user-written commands, and other resources, such as the SSC Archive.

Here’s a quick example. From Stata's toolbar, click on Help > Search....

A dialog box labeled Keyword Search will open. Select the desired search method.

• Search documentation and FAQs searches the official help files, FAQs, examples, Stata Journal, and Stata Technical Bulletin.
• Search net resources searches web resources.
• Search all combines the results of both searches.

Alternatively, you can also type findit keywords or search keywords, all from Stata's command prompt to produce the same list. Note that typing search keywords, all from the command prompt will display the findings in the Results window instead of the Viewer. Type view search keywords, all to diplay them in the Viewer.

Any software packages found will be displayed within the search results.

Scroll down, and click on the item that interests you.

A description about the package will appear, providing detailed information about the command, including who wrote it, where it came from, and what files are included. You can obtain even more information by clicking on one of the help files.

To install, click as instructed, and Stata will do the rest.