Importing excel in stata

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Stata: Data Analysis and Statistical Software

Excel ® import and export

Stata for Windows, Mac, and Linux can directly import data and export data and results to Microsoft Excel files. Both Excel .xls and .xlsx files are supported.

Above you see the preview tool, which you can use to see the data in an Excel worksheet before importing it and adjust options controlling how the data are imported.

import excel features

• .xls and .xlsx support
• import any worksheet from a workbook with multiple worksheets
• import a custom cell range
• treat first row of Excel data as Stata variable names
• automatic conversion of Excel dates to Stata dates
• automatic optimization of Stata storage types

export excel features

• .xls and .xlsx support
• replace an entire workbook
• add a worksheet to an existing workbook
• replace a single worksheet within an existing workbook
• modify a subset of cells within an existing worksheet
• save Stata variable names or variable labels to first row of worksheet
• automatic conversion of Stata dates to Excel dates
• export value labels or the underlying values
• specify a custom missing-value code to use in worksheet

• .xls and .xlsx support
• export Stata returned results to a worksheet
• export a Stata matrix in memory to a worksheet
• export a table from a collection to a worksheet
• export a custom numeric or string expression
• insert a Stata graph or any PNG, JPEG, WMF, or TIFF file to a worksheet
• create cell formulas in a worksheet
• format cells in a worksheet
  • number formats
  • cell border style and color
  • horizontal and vertical alignment
  • fill patterns and foreground/background color
• font formatting
  • font, font size, font color
  • bold, italic, strikeout, underline
  • subscripts
  • text wrapping, text indent, text rotation
• replace an entire workbook
• add a worksheet to an existing workbook
• replace a single worksheet within an existing workbook
• modify a subset of cells within an existing worksheet

And if we have the following Excel worksheet,

we can bold the column titles and add a solid black border below the column titles and on the right side of the State column with the commands

format the Average Response column as a percent:

and insert a Stata bar graph, bar1.png, into the worksheet:

Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft.

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Stata: Data Analysis and Statistical Software

How do I get information from Excel into Stata?

Title	Converting other format files into Stata dataset files
Author	Nicholas J. Cox, Durham University, UK

1. A rule to remember
2. How to get information from Excel into Stata
3. Other methods for transferring information
3.1 Copy and paste
3.2 import delimited command
3.3 ODBC and odbc load
4. Copying a Stata graph into Excel or any other package
5. Common problems
5.1 Nonnumeric characters
5.2 Spaces
5.3 Cell formats
5.4 Variable names
5.5 Missing rows and columns
5.6 Leading zeros
5.7 Filename and folder

1. A rule to remember

Stata expects one matrix or table of data from one sheet, with at most one line of text at the start defining the contents of the columns.

2. How to get information from Excel into Stata

Stata can directly import data from Excel (both .xls and .xlsx) files.

Select File > Import > Excel Spreadsheet from Stata’s menus.

Also, see import excel for more information on importing Excel spreadsheets directly into Stata.

3. Other methods for transferring information

3.1 Copy and paste

Using your Windows or Mac computer,

1. Start Excel.
2. Enter data in rows and columns or read in a previously saved file.
3. Highlight the data of interest, and then select Edit and click Copy.
4. Start Stata and open the Data Editor (type edit at the Stata dot prompt).
5. Paste data into editor by selecting Edit and clicking Paste.

3.2 import delimited command

The following section is based on material originally written by James Hardin, University of South Carolina, and Ted Anagnoson, California State Los Angeles.

1. Launch Excel and read in your Excel file.
2. Save as a text file (tab delimited or comma delimited) by selecting File and clicking Save As. If the original filename is filename.xls, then save the file under the name filename.txt or filename.csv. (Use the Save as type list—specifying an extension such as .txt is not sufficient to produce a text file.)
3. Quit Excel if you wish.
4. Launch Stata if it is not already running. (If Stata is already running, then either save or clear your current data.)
5. In Stata, type import delimited usingfilename.ext, where filename.ext is the name of the file that you just saved in Excel. Give the complete filename, including the extension.
6. In Stata, type compress.
7. Save the data as a Stata dataset using the save command.

3.3 ODBC and odbc load

The following section is provided by Kevin Turner, StataCorp.

1. You will have to download and install an Excel ODBC driver from Microsoft’s website to work with Excel files.
2. Launch Stata.
3. List the ODBC data sources that have been defined by Windows using the odbc list command.
4. Click DSN (data source name) listing provided by odbc list to query that DSN. odbc list will then list a default entry called “Excel Files” that you can use to choose any Excel (*.xls) file to load via ODBC. You must select an Excel file every time you issue an odbc command using this DSN. You can also define your own DSN that always points to a specific Excel file. On Windows, you would define this special DSN via the Control Panel called “Administrative Tools”, and then select “Data Sources (ODBC)”. More documentation is available from Microsoft concerning how to define your own Data Sources.
5. Click the sheet/table corresponding to your data within the Excel file to describe the contents. You may need to issue the odbc query command with the dialog(complete) option if you selected an arbitrary Excel file in the previous list.
6. If you are satisfied with the previous description of the sheet/table, you can click to load the described table.
7. If all goes well, your data will load into Stata. There are, however, a few general reasons why loading Excel via ODBC may be problematic, and those are covered in section 5.

4. Copying a Stata graph into Excel or any other package

Once you have a suitable graph in Stata’s Graph window,

1. Select Edit and click Copy Graph.
2. Open or switch to Excel and move to where you want to paste the graph.
3. Select Edit and click Paste.

These steps should also work in other packages that accept input in this manner.

5. Common problems

The following section is from material by Ted Anagnoson, California State Los Angeles; Dan Chandler, Trinidad, CA; Ronan Conroy, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin; David Moore, Hartman Group; Paul Wicks, South Manchester University Hospitals Trust; Eric Wruck, Positive Economics; and Colin Fischbacher, University of Edinburgh.

The problems mentioned in it are primarily with respect to text-based methods of importing data from Excel to Stata, such as copying and pasting and import delimited. import excel handles most of these issues.

5.1 Nonnumeric characters

One cell containing a nonnumeric character, such as a letter, within a column of data is enough for Stata to make that variable a string variable. It is often easiest to fix this in Excel. Within Stata, suppose the problematic string variable is named foo. Here are three alternative ways to identify the rogue observations:

If appropriate, they can be replaced by missing, and then the variable as a whole can be converted to numeric by typing:

destring includes an option for stripping commas, dollar signs, percent signs, and other nonnumeric characters. It also allows automatic conversion of percentage data.

5.2 Spaces

What appear to be purely numeric data in Excel are often treated by Stata as string variables because they include spaces. People may inadvertently enter space characters in cells that are otherwise empty. Although Excel strips leading and trailing spaces from numeric entries, it does not trim spaces from character entries. One or more space characters by themselves constitute a valid character entry and are stored as such. Stata dutifully reads the entire column as a string variable.

Excel has a search and replace capability that enables you to delete these stray spaces, or you can use a text-processing program or a text editor on the text file. You can also use the solution in nonnumeric characters.

5.3 Cell formats

Much of the formatting in Excel interferes with Stata’s ability to interpret the data reasonably. Just before saving the data as a text file, make sure that all formatting is turned off, at least temporarily. You can do this by highlighting the entire spreadsheet, selecting Format, then selecting Cells, and clicking General.

However, no solution solves all problems. Here is a cautionary tale. A text file included address data. One column included house numbers, and a few were in the form 4/2. Excel decided these few were dates and converted them to 4th February. Setting all cells to a General format does not help because it converts these unwanted dates to 5 digit Excel date codes. One solution is to apply a Text format to the offending column when offered the option during Excel’s text import process. But even this works only if you have manageably few columns to look through and are aware of the possibility of the problem.

5.4 Variable names

Stata limits variable names to 32 characters and does not allow any characters that it uses as operators or delimiters. Also, variable names should start with a letter. People who are Excel users first and Stata users second are often creative with the names they apply to columns. Stata converts illegal column (field) names to labels and makes a best guess at a sensible variable name. Stata’s best guess, however, may not be as good as the name a user would choose knowing Stata’s naming restrictions.

For example, Stata will make variable names using the first 32 characters of the variable name and use the rest for a label. If the first 32 characters are not unique, subsequent occurrences will be called var1, var2, etc., or v1, v2, etc. (If you paste the data, the variable stub is var; if you use insheet, the stub is v, so be careful writing do-files.)

5.5 Missing rows and columns

Stata completely ignores empty rows in a spreadsheet but not completely empty columns. A completely empty column gets read in as a variable with missing values for every observation. Of course, no harm is done in either case, but spreadsheet users who wish to add blank columns and/or rows to enhance legibility may wish to note this difference.

It is best if the first row of data is complete with no missing data. If necessary, add a dummy row with every value present, and then once in Stata type

The missings command by Nicholas J. Cox, which allows variables or observations that are all missing to be easily dropped, was published in Stata Journal 15(4). Type search dm0085 for information on this command.

5.6 Leading zeros

With integer-like codes, such as ICD-9 codes or U.S. Social Security numbers, that do not contain a dash, leading zeros will get dropped when pasted into Stata from Excel. One solution is to flag the variable as a string in the first line: add a nonnumeric character in Excel on that line, and then remove it in Stata.

The missing leading zeros can also be replaced in a conversion to string with one Stata command line; for example,

The second argument on the right-hand side of this command is a format specifying leading zeros on conversion of nvar to its string equivalent. For more details on formats, see format.

5.7 Filename and folder

Confirm the filename and location of the file you are trying to read. Use Explorer or its equivalent to check.

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Stata Class Notes: Entering Data

cd	Change directory
dir or ls	Show files in current directory
insheet	Read ASCII (text) data created by a spreadsheet
infile	Read unformatted ASCII (text) data
infix	Read ASCII (text) data in fixed format
input	Enter data from keyboard
import excel	Import Excel .xls or .xlsx file
describe	Describe contents of data in memory or on disk
compress	Compress data in memory
save	Store the dataset currently in memory on disk in Stata data format
use	Load a Stata-format dataset
count	Show the number of observations
list	List values of variables
clear	Clear the entire dataset and everything else

2.0 Demonstration and explanation

A) Preparing the workspace

A1. Changing the working directory

We start by changing the working directory, which is the default directory (folder) from which Stata will read files and to which Stata will write files. We can read/write to a directory different from the working directory by specifying a full path name when reading/writing files. We use the cd command to change directories and then dir or ls to list the contents of the directory.

A2. No dataset can be loaded while another dataset is in memory

In Stata, we can only have one dataset loaded in memory at a time. Before another dataset can be loaded, we must erase all data from memory using the clear command. We can also clear memory as we load in another dataset using the clear option on one of the data-loading commands (see below)

B) Use import delimited to read in delimited data from other sources

B1. Comma-separated file with variable names

Our first data will come as a spreadsheet, often managed or created by programs such as Excel. For example, in Excel, we can save data as a comma-separated-values format (.csv) file, which is a text file with fields separated by commas. Here is a how a .csv file might appear:

The command import delimited can read text files in which the fields are separated by any character, such as spaces, commas or tabs. The command reads the first line of the data file to automatically indentify the character used as the separator (the separator can be explicitly specified with the delimiter option). Imagine we have a data file, hs0.csv, located in our current working directory. Here are the Stata commands to read these data. We use the describe command to check if the input was successful.

B2. Comma-separated file without variable names

If the first line of the data does not contain the variable names, we must supply the names to the import delimited command. Let’s try to read such a file called hs0_noname.csv.

B3. Delimited files in general

We can use the import delimited command to read text files where the fields are separated by any character, such as spaces or tabs. Here is a snapshot of the datafile, hs0.raw.

The columns are left-justified, suggesting that the file is tab-delimited. However, some columns (namely columns 6 and 7) may have 1 or 2 tabs between them — it can be hard to tell by visual inspection. We explicitly tell Stata that the delimiter is a tab in the datafile using the delimiter option, and use the suboption collapse to treat multiple tabs as one delimiter. This file has no variable names, so we must supply them again:

C) Use infix to read in fixed format files

Another data format in which data can be stored is fixed format. It always requires a codebook to specify which column(s) corresponds to which variable. Here is small example of this type of data with a codebook. Notice how we make use of the codebook in the infix command below. We will use the schdat.fix data file.

variable name	column number
id	1-2
a1	3-4
t1	5-6
gender	7
a2	8-9
t2	10-11
tgender	12

Below we use the infile command, where we specify variable names and the column numbers that their corresponding values inhabit.

D) Use import excel to read in Excel files

The import excel command was introduce in Stata 12. Here is what the file hsbdemo.xlsx looks like.

On the import excel command below, we specify the sheet where the data are located with the sheet() option and that the variable names are contained in the first row using the firstrow option.

E) Use input to enter data from the keyboard or a do-file

We can also use the do-file editor to input data. The do-file editor is used for writing a sequence of commands and running them all at once. You can copy and paste the following Stata syntax to the do-file editor and run it. You can also paste this directly into the Command window

After running the above program, we can issue the describe command to get a general idea about the data set.

F) The save command reads stores data as Stata data (.dta) files, and the use command loads Stata data files

We can save the data set we just created to disk by issuing the save command. This creates a .dta file when no extension is specified.

We can then load the data we just saved using the use command.

G) The use command can load files over the internet

The use command can also be used to read a data file over the internet, which we will do throughout this seminar.

3.0 For more information

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