[Stata, software, install, do, configuration, statistics]
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Set up Stata

Installing Stata

Stata is a proprietary statistical software frequently used by scientific users. First check with your local IT support whether your institution has Stata licenses available.

If not, you can purchase a copy on Stata’s website and follow the installation guide.

Making Stata Available on the Command Prompt

You have just installed Stata. Later, we’d like to access Stata from the command prompt to automatically execute our source code. That way, you will be able to run a series of scripts in batch - which will significantly ease the burden of building complex data workflows.

Windows users

For you to be able to use Stata from the command prompt, follow the steps below.

Warning

Making Stata available via an environment variable.

We need to update our environment variables.

  • Right-click on Computer.
  • Go to “Properties” and select the tab “Advanced System settings”.
  • Choose “Environment Variables” and create a new variable, which you call STATA_BIN.
  • Choose Edit.

    • Environment variable name: STATA_BIN

    • Windows 7 and 8 machines: Please check where you have installed Stata on your computer, and note the name of the Stata program file (on some machines, it is called StataSE.exe, on others it is called StataMP-64.exe.

      Then, update the path if required, and copy and paste the following string without spaces at the start or end:

      c:\Program Files (x86)\Stata15\StataSE-64.exe

      Using a different Stata version? Change the version number then in the path above.

    • Windows 10 machines:

      • Click New and paste the following string:

      c:\Program Files (x86)\Stata15\StataSE-64.exe

      • Click on OK as often as needed.

Mac users

For you to be able to use Stata from the command line, you have to add Stata to your environmental variables. A tutorial follows.

Warning

Making Stata available via the PATH settings on Mac.

  • Open the Terminal.
  • Type nano ~/.bash_profile.
  • Add Stata to the environmental variables: - Add export STATA_BIN=/Applications/Stata/StataMP.app/Contents/MacOS/stataMP to a new line. You may need to replace stataMP to stataSE or so, which depends on which Stata you install on Mac. - Save by pressing Ctrl + O and exit by pressing Ctrl + X. - Relaunch the Terminal. Then type source ~/.bash_profile to bring the new .bash_profile into effect.
  • Type $STATA_BIN -v to check availability. Remember to type the $ before STATA_BIN.

Verifying the installation

To verify that Stata has been correctly installed and configured via your PATH settings, follow the instructions below.

Windows users

Open a new terminal interface and enter:

%STATA_BIN%

followed by hitting the Return key. You can check the Stata version.

Warning

If you obtain the following error:

'C:\Program' is not recognized as and internal or external command

Add " " to your variable path, for instance "c:\Program Files (x86)\Stata15\StataSE-64.exe".

Mac users

Open a new terminal interface and enter:

echo $PATH

followed by hitting the Return key.

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